THE  INSPIRED  WORD. 


A  SERIES  OF 


PAPERS   AND   ADDRESSES 


DELIVERED   AT  THE 


BIBLE -INSPIRATION     CONFERENCE, 

PHILADELPHIA,  1887. 


EDITED   BY 

ARTHUR    T.    PIERSON. 

;r 


f Tno  IIvsvfAaToZ  'Ayiov 

ayioi  6eov  avQpoonoi. 


NEW  YORK: 
ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    COMPANY, 

38  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD   STREET. 


3  s 


COPYRIGHT,    1888,    BY 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY. 


EDWARD  O.  JENKINS'   SONS, 

Printers  and  Stereotypers, 

20  North  William  Street,  New  York. 


A  WOKD  PEELIMINAKY. 


THE  Word  of  God  is  the  Palladium  of  the  visible 
Church  of  Christ,  which  stands  or  falls  with  the  Bible. 
In  proportion  as  this  blessed  Book  is  reverenced  and 
obeyed,  does  the  believer's  life  increase  or  decline  in  all 
that  constitutes  its  true  vitality. 

It  is  not  strange  that  upon  the  Word  of  God  all  the 
forces  of  the  foes  of  Christianity  should  be  massed.  If 
confidence  in  that  Word  can  be  undermined  ;  if,  by  sub- 
tlety and  sophistry,  its  infallible  inspiration  may  be  made 
to  appear  like  an  old  wives'  fable  or  groundless  tradition ; 
if  in  any  way  men  may  feel  at  liberty,  like  Jehudi,  to  use 
a  penknife  on  the  sacred  roll  and  cut  out  of  it  whatever  is 
offensive  to  the  proud  reason  or  the  wayward  will  of  the 
natural  man — the  Devil  will  have  achieved  his  greatest 
triumph. 

Brethren,  who  are  specialists  in  their  departments  of 
study,  and  who  represent  all  forms  of  evangelical  faith, 
were  asked  to  come  together  and  give  their  united  testi- 
mony. The  reader  of  these  pages  has  the  result  before 
him.  There  is  scarce  a  chord  struck  in  which  there  is  not 
the  fullest  harmony.  If  any  discord  is  apparent,  probably 
it  is  only  apparent,  and  a  clearer  definition  of  terms  would 
eliminate  all  seeming  variance. 

The  editor's  work  has  been  little  more  than  a  supervision 
of  proof-reading  and  arrangement.  The  authors  alone  are 
responsible  for  the  views  they  advocate;  but  it  seemed 
wisest  to  allow  the  papers  to  stand  without  alteration,  that 

(iii) 


iv  A   WORD  PRELIMINARY. 

it  might  be  seen  liow  general  is  the  accord  upon  all  that  is 
fundamental  to  the  unity,  integrity,  divine  inspiration,  and 
infallible  authority  of  the  Word  of  God. 

May  the  Author  of  that  Word  accompany  this  humble 
attempt,  through  the  million  tongues  of  the  press,  to  give 
to  a  cosmopolitan  audience  the  benefit  of  what  was  spoken 
comparatively  in  the  ears  of  a  few. 

In  behalf  of  the  Committee : 

ARTHUR  T.  PIERSON. 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA.,  Feb.,  1888. 


THE  BIBLE  COKFEKENCE  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 


THE  following  circular  letter,  issued  in  May,  1887,  will 
sufficiently  explain  the  Conference  and  the  nature  and  con- 
tents of  this  volume : 

"It  has  been  decided  to  hold  a  Conference  in  Philadelphia,  No- 
vember 15-20,  on  the  subject  of  The  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

"  Irreverent  sceptics  persistently  attack  the  foundations  of  our  most 
holy  religion,  while  professing  friends  of  Christianity  are  doing  in- 
calculable   injury  through   their  adverse  criticisms  on  the  Bible. 
Thus  timid  disciples  become  discouraged,  many  of  whom  make  ship- 
wreck ;  while  the  army  of  the  doubters  increase  on  every  hand.    Such 
a  Conference  is  needed  in  order  to  confirm  the  faith  of  Christian  be-  , 
lievers  in  the  canon  of  Holy  Scripture,  which,  in  its  original  lau-— 
guages,  has  been  held  by  the  Church  in  all  ages  as  the  product  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  all  its  parts  and  terms.     Men  of  God  spake  and  wrote 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Divine  Spirit. 

"  The  members  of  the  Committee  have  selected  the  following  topics 
to  be  presented  by  able,  scholarly  teachers,  who  have  ever  been  faith- 
ful to  the  Bible  as  the  very  word  of  God  :  Importance  of  the  Subject ; 
Different  Theories  of  Inspiration  ;  Alleged  Objections  to  Plenary  In- 
spiration Considered ;  Difference  between  Inspiration  and  Illumina- 
tion ;  The  Office  of  Criticism  with  reference  to  God's  Word  ;  Jesus  a 
Qualified  Witness  to  Inspiration  ;  Testimony  of  the  Apostles  ;  Canon 
of  Scripture  ;  The  Bible  and  the  Monuments  ;  Adaptation  of  the  Bible 
to  Human  Need  ;  The  Bible  Inspired,  not  Evolved  ;  The  Bible  an  Or- 
ganic Whole  ;  The  Testimony  of  Jesus  to  Himself  ;  The  Scriptures  are 

the  Word  of  God,  versus  The  Scriptures  contain  the  Word  of  God ;« 

History  of  the  Doctrine  of  Inspiration  ;  Principles  of  Interpretation  ; 
The  Spirit  and  the  Word  ;  Preach  the  Word  ;  Testimony  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  Themselves  ;  Relation  of  the  Personality  of  the  Lord  to  the 
Doctrine  of  Inspiration  ;  Difficulties  of  Conscientious  Readers  Con- 
sidered ;  The  Structure  of  the  Book  an  Evidence  of  its  Inspiration ; 
Difference  between  Inspiration  and  Revelation  ;  The  Bearing  of 
Prophecy  on  Inspiration. 

(v) 


vi        BIBLE  CONFERENCE  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

"  We  earnestly  hope  that  this  legitimate  effort  to  make  prominent 
the  full  Inspiration  of  God's  Word  will  meet  with  your  hearty  accord 
and  endorsement.  If  the  Conference  therefore  commends  itself  to 
your  judgment,  we  shall  greatly  appreciate  your  signature  to  the  Call. 
Above  all,  we  seek,  with  your  brotherly  co-operation,  your  earnest 
prayers,  that  through  this  effort  God  will  indeed  glorify  Himself  in 
the  exaltation  of  His  blessed  Word. 

"We  are  yours,  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel, 

"WM.  R.  NICHOLSON,  Chairman, 

"Bishop  R.  E.  Church,  Philadelphia. 
"JOHN  T.  BECKLEY, 

"  Pastor  Beth  Eden  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia. 
"ROBERT  C.  MATLACK, 

"Sec.  of  Episcopal  Educational  Society,  Phila. 
"ARTHUR  T.  PIERSON, 

"Pastor  Bethany  Presbyterian  Church,  Phila. 
"JAMES  A.  MORROW, 

"  Secretary  of  Bible  Society,  Philadelphia. 
"J.  HOWARD-SMITH, 

"Prof,  of  Systematic  Div.  R.  E.  C.  Sem.,  Phila. 
"J.  M.  STIFLER, 

"Professor  Crozier  Theological  Seminary. 
"J.  L.  LITCH, 

"Pastor  Central  Pres.  Church,  Norristown,  Pa. 
"GEO.  C.  NEEDHAM,  Secretary, 

' '  Manchester-by-the-  Sea,  Mass. " 

The  other  members  of  the  Committee  desire  to  add  to  the  above, 
their  own  cordial  recognition  of  the  faithful  and  gratuitous  labors  of 
the  Secretary,  in  whose  mind  the  idea  of  the  Conference  first  origi- 
nated, and  by  whose  persevering  efforts  it  was  carried  to  a  successful 
completion. — EDITOR. 


The  following  was  the  Programme  both  of  Topics  and  Speakers  : 

NOVEMBER  15.    TUESDAY. 

10  A.M.    SPECIAL  HOUR  OP  PRATER  AND  PRAISE. 

1.  11  A.M.     OPENING  ADDRESS,  Rev.  Thos.  A.  Hoyt,  D.D. 

2.  3  P.M.    QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION, 

Rev.  Wayland  Hoyt,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 


BIBLE  CONFERENCE  IN  PHILADELPHIA.       vii 

3.  4  P.M.  THE  RELATION  OF  THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH, 

Prof.  J.  M.  Stifler,  D.D.,  Crozier  Seminary,  Pa. 

4.  7.30  P.M.    THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF, 

Rev.  Geo.  S.  Bishop,  D.D.,  Orange,  N.  J. 

NOVEMBER  16.     WEDNESDAY. 

5.  10  A.M.    BIBLE  MIRACLES, 

Prof.  L.  T.  Townsend,  D.D.,  Boston  University. 

6.  11  A.M.     PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION, 

Rev;  Wm.  Dinwiddie,  D.D.,  Greenwood,  Va. 

7.  3  P.M.     ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION  CONSIDERED, 

Rev.  Washington  Gardner,  D.D.,  Jackson,  Mich. 
*4  P.M.     THE  BIBLE  AND  THE  MONUMENTS, 

Prof.  W.  R.  Harper,  Ph.D.,  Yale  College. 

8.  7.30  P.M.     THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION, 

Rev.  James  H.  Brookes,  D.D.,  St.  Louis. 

NOVEMBER  17.    THURSDAY. 

9.  10  A.M.    DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE  AS  TESTED  BY  THE  LAWS 

OF  EVIDENCE,  Rev.  T.  S.  Childs,  D.D.,  Washington. 

10.  11  A.M.     THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  APOSTLES  TO  INSPIRATION, 

Rev.  T.  C.  Johnson,  D.D.,  Charleston,  West  Virginia. 

11.  3  P.M.    THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK, 

Rev.  James  E.  Gilbert,  D.D.,  Indianapolis. 

12.  4  P.M.     THE  BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION, 

Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  R.  Nicholson,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 

13.  7.30  P.M.    JESUS  THE  SUPREME  WITNESS  AND  EXAMPLE  OF  IN- 

SPIRATION, 

Prof.  Howard  Osgood,  D.D.,  Rochester  Seminary, 
New  York. 

NOVEMBER  18.    FRIDAY. 

14.  10  A.M.    THE  MORAL  GLORY  OF  JESUS  A  PROOF  OF  INSPIRATION, 

Prof.  W.  G.  Moorehead,  D.D.,  Xenia  College,  Ohio. 

15.  11  A.M.    THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE, 

Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.D.,  New  York. 

16.  3  P.M.    PREACH  THE  WORD, 

Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  New  York. 

17.  4  P.M.    THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  WORD, 

Geo.  C.  Needham,  Evangelist. 

18.  7.30  P.M.    THE  ORGANIC  UNITY  OF  THE  BIBLE, 

Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 

*  Dr.  Harper  withholds  his  paper,  having  other  uses  for  it,  which  he  wishes  not 
to  anticipate  by  its  separate  publication.— ED. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

OPENING  ADDRESS.  By  Thomas  A.  Hoyt,  1 

QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.  By  Wayland 

Hoyt,  -  8 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

By  J.  M.  Stifler,  -  31 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  By  Geo. 

S.  Bishop,  50 

BIBLE  MIRACLES.  By  L.  T.  Townsend,  88 

PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION.  By  Wm.  Dinwiddie,  110 
ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION  CONSIDERED.  By 

Washington  Gardner,  -  134 

THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  By  James  H.  Brookes,  145 

DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE  AS  TESTED  BY  THE  LAWS 

OF  EVIDENCE.  By  T.  S.  Cliilds,  166 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  APOSTLES  TO  INSPIRATION.  By 

T.  C.  Johnson,  •  180 

THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  By  James  E.  Gilbert,  -  193 

THE  BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.  By  Wm. 

E.  Nicholson,  -  203 

JESUS  THE  SUPREME  WITNESS  AND  EXAMPLE  OF  INSPI- 
RATION. By  Howard  Osgood,  -  240 
THE  MORAL  GLORY  OF  JESUS  A  PROOF  OF  INSPIRATION. 

By  W.  G.  Moorehead,  -  256 

THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  By  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  285 
PREACH  THE  WORD.  By  Howard  Crosby,  -  313 

THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  WORD.  By  Evangelist  George  C. 

Needham,  -  324 

THE  ORGANIC  UNITY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  By  Arthur  T. 

Pierson,   -  -      338 


OPENING   ADDKESS. 

THOS.  A.  HOYT,  D.D. 

BRETHREN  : — I  bid  you  welcome  to  this  city,  to  this 
house.  In  the  name  of  Chambers  Church,  and  of  the 
Christian  people  of  Philadelphia,  I  salute  you.  Your 
persons  and  your  cause  alike  command  our  hospitality. 
Your  mission  is  a  noble  ore.  "Were  you  met  as  a  body 
of  astronomers,  we  would  regard  you  with  interest,  while 
you  displayed  the  '  chart  of  the  sidereal  heavens,  pierced 
their  abysses  with  far-reaching  telescope,  revealed  to  our 
view  millions  of  suns  and  systems,  and  caused  us  to  listen 
to  the  oratorio  of  the  stars,  . 

"  Forever  singing  as  they  shine, 
The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine." 

Or,  were  you  geologists,  we  would  be  delighted  to 
roam  with  you  through  the  corridors  of  ages  and  study 
the  successive  eras  of  earth's  formation,  and  gaze  with 
awe  upon  the  finger-prints  of  the  Almighty  impressed 
upon  the  rocks.  These  pursuits  would  be  ennobling : 
in  the  one  we  would  range  through  the  realms  of  infinite 
space;  in  the  other,  through  the  epochs  of  unmeasured 
time ;  in  both,  we  would  be  led  to  the  throne  of  Him 
who  fills  all  space  and  embraces  all  time — whose  being  is 
infinite,  whose  existence  is  eternal. 

Or,  were  you  a  company  of  geographers,  we  would  lis- 
ten with  profit  to  your  descriptions  of  the  surface  of  the 
earth ;  its  distribution  into  land  and  water ;  its  grada- 
tions of  climate  from  arctic  to  tropical ;  its  variety  of 

(1) 


scenery  as  seen  in  mountain  and  valley,  forest  and  river, 
desert  and  jungle.  We  would  hear  "  the  shout  of  the 
isles  answer  the  thunder  of  the  continents."  Under 
your  guidance  we  would  leap  from  pole  to  pole,  and 
swifter  than  the  electric  current,  our  thoughts  would 
girdle  the  globe  at  the  equator.  The  steppes  of  Asia, 
the  land  of  the  midnight  sun,  the  wastes  of  Alaska  and 
Patagonia,  the  mysteries  of  the  dark  continent  would  be 
explored. 

Or,  were  you  a  learned  assembly  of  historians,  we 
would  be  fascinated  by  the  story  of  mankind  as  it  went 
forth  from  its  source  to  people  the  earth ;  its  migrations  ; 
its  vicissitudes  of  conquest  and  subjugation,  of  civiliza- 
tion and  barbarism,  of  glory  and  shame ;  the  transforma- 
tion of  its  primeval  unity  into  a  multitude  of  nations, 
languages,  customs,  laws,  religions. 

Or,  were  you  scientists,  and  could  tell  us  of  the  forces 
of  nature,  could  unfold  the  hidden  powers  of  the  material 
universe,  and  inform  us  of  things  kept  secret  from  the 
beginning,  but  now  made  known  to  physical  science,  we 
would  be  pleased  to  hear  you. 

Or,  were  you  philosophers,  and  attempting  a  more  ad- 
venturous flight,  should  discourse  of  man's  nature,  of  his 
intellect,  his  affections,  his  will,  of  the  true,  the  beautiful, 
the  good ;  should  be  able  to  tell  us  what  man  is  in  the 
depths  of  his  consciousness;  and  should  strive  to  ex- 
pound the  principles  of  metaphysics,  the  laws  of  logic, 
and  the  essence  of  virtue  : — we  would  follow  you  with 
alacrity  along  these  inviting,  though  arduous  paths. 

Or,  lastly,  were  you  a  convocation  of  patriots  and  phi- 
lanthropists assembled  to  consult  for  the  welfare  of  the 
country  and  the  race ;  were  the  problem  before  you,  how 
evils  might  be  repressed,  good  morals  promoted,  the  laws 
of  the  land  enforced,  and  the  customs  of  society  rectified, 
you  would  be  entitled  to  oar  respect  and  sympathy. 


OPENING  ADD.RESS.  3 

Were  any  of  these  the  motive  of  jour  meeting,  we 
would  gladly  welcome  you,  and  would  gratefully  receive 
your  instructions  on  these  high  themes. 

But  your  purpose  plumes  itself  for  a  yet  loftier  flight. 
It  is  said  that  the  several  species  of  the  eagle  differ  in  the 
elevation  to  which  they  attain.  Some  fly  in  full  sight  of 
man ;  others  can  be  barely  seen  as  a  speck  in  the  sky  ; 
others,  still,  mount  beyond  our  vision  ;  while  far  above 
them  all,  soars  the  royal  bird,  and  from  its  supreme 
height,  poised  on  even  pinions,  surveys  with  serene 
majesty  the  entire  scene  of  earth  and  air  beneath  it. 
Such  is  your  mission  as  compared  with  all  the  depart- 
ments of  knowledge  I  have  enumerated.  Some  of  them 
skim  the  ground,  others  rise  to  the  upper  air,  others 
touch  the  stars,  but  you  wing  your  flight  to  the  third 
heaven.  As  the  imperial  eagle  spurns  the  earth,  the 
cloud,  the  thunder,  and  fixes  his  eye  on  the  sun,  so  do  you, 
in  this  conference,  turn  from  all  lower  objects  to  gaze 
with  undimmed  vision  upon  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 
Your  theme  is  greater  than  all  the  others  because  it  over- 
laps and  because  it  transcends  them. 

The  Bible  touches  all  human  knowledge ;  it  has  a  word 
to  say  on  each  of  the  subjects  just  passed  under  review  ; 
and  what  it  says  is  the  basis  of  all  that  man  has  to  say  of 
them.  But  for  the  Bible  we  would  know  nothing  of  the 
origin  of  the  universe.  All  the  cosmogonies  that  men 
have  invented  are  puerile  conceptions.  That  God  created 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  making  all  things  by  the  word 
of  His  power — this  the  greatest  minds  of  antiquity  failed 
to  discover.  This  Book,  only,  unfolds  the  sublime  pano- 
rama of  creation,  in  which  we  behold  worlds  roll  from 
the  plastic  hand  of  the  Creator,  and  begin  their  mighty 
revolutions,  while  "  all  the  sons  of  God  shout  for  joy." 

The  Bible  utters  the  first  syllable  in  the  history  of  the 
human  race.  Deprived  of  its  teachings,  man  is  a  riddle, 


4-  OPENING  ADDRESS. 

a  sphinx,  a  baffling  enigma  to  himself.  Neither  human 
history  or  human  nature  can  be  explained  except  in  the 
light  of  Scripture ;  unless  man  was  at  first  holy,  then  fell 
into  sin,  and  now  has  a  Redeemer,  we  fail  to  comprehend 
how  or  what  he  is.  Philosophy  has  stumbled  just  here  : 
in  striving  to  expound  man's  complex  and  tangled  nature, 
she  has  omitted  to  notice  that  he  is  in  an  abnormal  state ; 
that  his  soul  is  disturbed  by  a  malign  influence,  and  "  like 
sweet  bells,  jangled  and  out  of  tune,"  no  longer  gives 
forth  its  pristine  harmonies. 

Apart  from  the  Bible,  man  knows  nothing  of  his  ori- 
gin. The  wisest  of  the  ancients  failed  to  indicate  the 
source  of  the  stream  of  humanity,  but  indulged  in  wild, 
vague  guesses.  Some  said  he  came  from  the  beast,  some 
from  the  gods,  some  from  earth,  others  from  the  skies.  It 
is  only  in  this  book  we  learn  that  God  created  man  in 
His  own  image,  that  his  body  was  formed  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground,  and  that  his  spirit  was  the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty. 

As  the  Bible  speaks  the  first  word  about  man,  so  it  ut- 
ters the  last.  Nowhere  else  can  we  learn  of  his  destiny ; 
whether  the  soul  dies  with  the  body,  or  is  reabsorbed  in 
Deity,  or  reappears  on  earth,  or  vanishes  into  air,  or 
passes  into  eternal  sleep.  No  man  knows  what  will  come 
after  death  but  those  who  have  this  divine  revelation,  in 
which  are  taught  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  humanity ; 
that  the  body  returns  to  earth  as  it  was,  that  the  spirit 
returns  to  God  who  gave  it,  that  there  will  be  a  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,  and  that  the  soul  and  the  body  reunited 
shall  live  forever  in  happiness  or  woe,  according  to  the 
final  judgment,  as  determined  by  the  good  or  evil  of  this 
present  state.  These  truths,  so  familiar  to  us,  are  high  as 
heaven  above  the  thoughts  of  men :  and  this  leads  us  to 
notice  that  the  Bible  not  only  overlaps  human  knowl- 
edge, but  also  transcends  it.  This  has  already  appeared, 


OPENING  ADDRESS.  5 

but  we  now  enter  a  sphere  where  the  contrast  will  be 
still  more  conspicuous. 

God  is  not  only  the  sublimest,  but  the  most  indispensa- 
ble object  of  knowledge ;  yet  of  God,  man  is  most  igno- 
rant. He  knows  but  little  of  himself,  but  far  less  of  God. 
Consider  the  notions  of  God  held  by  the  greatest  of  the 
heathen  philosophers.  They  did  not  know  whether  there 
was  one  God  or  many;  whether  there  was  a  supreme 
deity  who  made  the  world,  or  whether  all  the  gods  were 
themselves  created  beings ;  whether  God  took  care  of  the 
world,  or  held  Himself  aloof  from  it  in  stoical  indifference 
or  cynical  contempt ;  whether  He  was  blind  fate,  or  sub- 
ject to  human  passions ;  whether  religion  and  virtue  were 
closely  united  or  entirely  separated. 

Amid  this  babel,  listen  to  the  clarion  voice  of  the  in- 
spired Word,  which  tells  us  u  there  is  but  one  only,  the 
living  and  true  God  ";  that  He  made  all  things  for  Him- 
self; that  His  providence  is  over  the  works  of  His  hands ; 
that  "  the  first  and  great  command  is,  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart ;  and  that  the  second  is 
like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

Although  God  had  manifested  His  eternal  power  and 
Godhead  in  His  works,  and  although  He  had  given  man 
faculties  with  which  to  discern  the  tokens  of  deity,  yet 
"  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  Admitting,  how- 
ever, that  reason  acting  on  the  natural  manifestations  of 
God  can  derive  some  knowledge  of  Him,  what  is  the  ex- 
tent of  that  knowledge?  We  may  from  these  sources 
learn  that  God  is  the  First  Cause,  the  Architect  of 
the  Universe,  the  moral  Governor  of  the  world,  the  Ar- 
biter of  human  destiny ;  that  He  is  the  Creator,  the  Ru- 
ler, the  Judge. 

But  these  are  only  the  axioms  of  the  theology  of  the 
Bible;  the  pedestal  of  the  column  of  divine  truth  erected 
in  the  Scriptures ;  the  foundation  of  the  glorious  temple 


6  OPENING  ADDRESS. 

of  revealed  religion.  It  is  only  in  this  Volume  God  pro- 
claims Himself  "Merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering 
and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth ;  keeping  meray  for 
thousands,  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin." 
Here,  only,  do  we  learn  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  He  gave  His  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  From  nothing  but  the  study  of  this  Book  could 
have  been  derived  the  statement  that  "  God  is  a  Spirit, 
infinite,  eternal,  unchangeable  in  His  being,  wisdom, 
power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth ";  and  the 
inference  that,  as  the  prismatic  colors  compose  the  white 
light  of  day,  so  these  attributes  combine  to  form  the  sub- 
lime truth  that  "  God  is  Love." 

Thus  it  is  that  God  has  magnified  His  word  above  all 
His  name,  or  has  magnified  His  name  above  all  things  by 
His  word  ;  that  is,  God  has  revealed  Himself  more  fully 
by  His  word  than  by  any  other  method.  Creation,  Provi- 
dence, and  Conscience  proclaim  His  majesty  and  glory, 
but  the  word  reveals  His  inmost  heart. 

Such  is  the  foundation  of  your  faith,  and  it  is  immov- 
able. When  the  wise  man  mused  upon  the  evanescence 
of  human  life,  when  he  saw  that  "one  generation  passeth 
away  and  another  generation  cometh,"  he  assured  himself 
with  the  thought  that  "the  earth  abideth  forever." 
Thus,  when  we  reflect  with  anxiety  upon  the  rapid  fluc- 
tuations of  human  opinion,  we  are  strengthened  by  the 
conviction  that  "  the  word  of  the  Lord  liveth  and  abideth 
forever.  For  all  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of 
man  as  the  flower  of  grass ;  the  grass  withereth  and  the 
flower  thereof  falleth  away:  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  en- 
dureth  forever." 

The  Bible  is  that  immortal  word  of  God.  Though  it 
may  be  obscured  at  times  by  the  mist  of  human  error,  by 
the  fog  of  human  doubt,  by  the  storm  of  human  passion, 


OPENING  ADDRESS.  7 

it  remains  fixed  and  immovable.  The  polar  star  may 
be  hidden  from  our  view  by  the  exhalations  of  earth,  by 
clouds  in  the  sky,  by  the  black  wings  of  the  tempest ;  but 
these  pass  away,  and  the  great  sentinel  of  the  heavens 
still  beams  upon  us  with  celestial  radiance.  In  like  man- 
ner, amid  the  gloom  of  sin,  folly,  and  doubt,  this  divine 
luminary  enlightens  the  world  ;  "  seeing  it  is  God  that 
said,  Light  shall  shine  out  of  darkness,  who  hath  shined 
in  our  hearts."  In  the  light  of  God  we  see  light; 
the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  do  not  penetrate  the  cav- 
erns of  earth  ;  we  must  soar,  that  we  may  gaze. 

The  aim  of  this  conference  is  to  ascend  "  the  vantage- 
ground  of  truth — a  hill  not  to  be  commanded,  and  where 
the  air  is  always  clear  and  serene,  and  not  with  swelling 
and  pride,  but  with  pity ";  with  yearning  hearts  and 
helping  hands,  "to  see  the  errors  and  wanderings  and 
mists  and  tempests  in  the  vale  below."  "  Certainly  it 
is  heaven  upon  earth  to  have  a  man's  mind  move  in  char- 
ity, rest  in  providence,  and  turn  upon  the  poles  of  truth." 

"  On  every  summit  lies  repose."  Far  above  the  dust 
and  clamor,  cloud  and  storm,  you  discern  the  peak  of 
Fisgah ;  it  is  the  mount  of  vision ;  if  you  can  reach  it, 
the  world  will  be  below  and  heaven  above  you :  it  will 
become  Mt.  Tabor,  and  you  shall  be  transfigured  into  the 
likeness  of  your  Lord. 

Fear  not,  brethren,  to  make  the  bold  attempt ;  the  foot 
of  the  hill  is  enveloped  in  clouds  and  conflict ;  its  top  is 
bathed  in  light. 

"  Like  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale  and  midway  leaves  the  storm, 
Though  'round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 


QUESTIONS  COKCEKKING  INSPIKATIOK 

WAYLAKD   HOYT,    D.D. 

FROM  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  there  shoots  out  into  the 
sea  a  sand-bank,  forty  or  fifty  miles  in  length,  making  the 
sea  shallower  and  more  dangerous,  and  along  which  a 
tremendous  current  swirls. 

It  was  in  the  year  1830,  an  East  Indiaman,  called  the 
Lady  Holland,  was  making  the  then  tedious  and  difficult 
passage  to  Hindostan.  For  a  whole  week  the  clouds  had 
hidden  the  sun  ;  accurate  knowledge  of  the  position  of  the 
ship  had  been  impossible ;  the  winds  had  blown  fitfully 
and  boisterously;  three  times  the  vessel  had  been  beaten 
off  her  course,  but  by  soundings,  on  Saturday,  the  13th 
of  February,  the  captain  knew  that  he  had  entered  on  this 
shoal. 

It  was  hazardous  to  go  on  far  in  such  doubt  of  his  where- 
abouts, and  in  such  rough  water,  and  in  the  grasp  of  such 
a  current.  He  would  turn  the  vessel  back  to  sea  by  8 
o'clock  that  evening,  the  captain  said  ;  then,  having  taken 
further  soundings,  he  thought  he  might  safely  go  on  till 
10  o'clock,  when  he  would  surely  turn  back  or  heave  to 
till  morning.  But,  when  four  bells  sounded  10  o'clock, 
and  the  captain  was  just  about  to  give  the  order  to  turn 
back,  with  tremendous  concussion  the  ship  struck  upon 
rocks — a  jagged,  cruel  reef  of  them,  over  which  the  waves 
dashed  so  savagely  that  wave  and  rock  together  broke  the 
vessel's  back  at  once,  and  the  fore-part  of  her  sank  amid 
the  breakers. 

I  cannot  wait  to  tell  the  story  of*  the  escape  of  the  pas- 
sengers, and  how,  at  last,  they  were  all  landed  upon  a  bit 
of  sandy  beach,  amid  the  rocks.  One  of  the  passengers  on 
(8) 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.         Q 

board  this  wrecked  ship,  Lady  Holland,  was  a  young  man, 
Alexander  Duff.  He  was  on  his  way  to  what  subsequently 
proved  to  be  such  magnificent  missionary  service  in  India. 

The  significant  fact  just  now,  is  this :  while  the  wrecked 
passengers  were  huddled  in  a  hovel  erected  by  searchers 
for  penguins'  eggs  amid  these  rocks  and  sands,  a  sailor,  walk- 
ing along  the  little  beach,  noticed  something  cast  up  high 
and  dry.  Going  to  it,  he  found  it  to  be  a  quarto  copy  of 
Bagster's  Bible  and  a  Scotch  Psalm-book,  scarcely  shattered, 
and  with  Mr.  Duff's  name  written  on  both  distinctly. 
That  Bible  and  that  edition  of  the  Psalms  were  about  the 
only  books,  out  of  a  library  of  more  than  800  volumes 
which  this  young  missionary  was  taking  with  him  to  India, 
which  were  not  swallowed  up  in  the  shipwreck  or  reduced 
to  pulp. 

And  what  is  still  more  singular,  this  copy  of  the  Bible 
had  not  been  in  daily  use,  but  wrapped  in  chamois  leather, 
had  been  packed  in  the  boxes  with  the  other  books.  They 
had  been  dashed  to  pieces  or  wetted  into  pulp.  Here,  in 
the  poor  hovel,  he  held  the  uninjured  Bible  in  his  hands, 
and  read  out  of  it  to  the  drenched,  chilled,  but  saved  pas- 
sengers, the  107th,  the  traveler's  Psalm  : 

For  He  commandeth,  and  raiseth  the  stormy  wind:  which 
lifteth  up  the  waves  thereof. 

They  mount  up  to  the  heaven :  they  go  down  again  to  the 
depths :  their  soul  is  melted  because  of  trouble. 

They  reel  to  and  fro,  and  stagger  like  a  drunken  man; 
and  are  at  their  wit's  end. 

Then  they  cry  unto  the  Lord  hi  their  trouble:  and  He 
bringeth  them  out  of  their  distresses. 

He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm:  so  that  the  waves  thereof 
are  still. 

Then  are  they  glad,  because  they  be  quiet:  so  He  bring- 
eth them  unto  their  desired  haven. 

The  experience  made  a  profound  and  capturing  impres- 
sion upon  Mr.  Duff.  It  ruled  his  life.  It  was,  to  him, 


10       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

the  voice  of  Providence,  declaring  that,  compared  with  all 
other  books,  the  Bible  was  the  supreme  and  supremely 
necessary  book  for  India — for  man. 

And  what  a  most  real  picture  of  the  history  of  the 
Bible— this  incident.  To  wreck  the  Bible,  to  make  it  pulp, 
though  men  have  affirmed  it  done  a  thousand  times,  has 
been  impossible.  Out  of  every  storm  of  higher  criticism, 
so-called,  like  Kuenen's  and  his  school ;  or  of  lower  criti- 
cism, like  Torn  Paine' s  or  Voltaire's ;  or  of  scientific  skepti- 
cism and  denial,  like  Haeckel's,  and  much  of  our  modern 
so-called  advanced  materialistic  thought ;  or  of  ecclesiastical 
proscription,  like  that  of  Home ;  or  of  a  fashionable  and 
sensual  neglect,  like  that  of  the  upper  classes  in  England 
in  the  18th  century ;  somehow,  the  Bible  gets  surely  seen 
to  be  the  victor,  and  not  the  victim  of  the  storm. 

And  while,  in  our  day,  the  storm  against  the  Bible  does 
not  lessen,  in  our  day  also  the  triumph  of  the  Bible  is  the 
more  radiantly  seen.  Up  to  the  year  1800  from  four  to 
six  million  copies  in  about  thirty  different  languages  meas- 
ured the  distribution  of  the  Bible.  Eighty  years  later, 
eighty  different  Bible  societies  with  unnumbered  agencies 
and  auxiliaries  report  a  distribution  of  more  than  165,000,- 
000  copies  of  the  Bible  or  of  portions  of  it,  together  with 
206  new  translations,  and  besides  this  are  to  be  reckoned 
the  unknown  millions  of  Bibles  and  New  Testaments  dis- 
tributed by  private  publishers  throughout  the  world. 
When  the  Canterbury  revision  of  the  New  Testament 
was  at  last  issued,  immediately  began  the  largest  sale  ever 
known  of  any  single  book,  and  immediately  was  sent  from 
New  York  to  Chicago  the  longest  telegraphic  message  ever 
wired,  about  118,000  words — the  New  Testament,  from 
the  first  of  Matthew  to  the  last  of  Romans — because  pub- 
lic interest  was  so  great  that  it  could  not  brook  the  delay 
of  twenty-four  hours  of  transmission  by  the  slower  steam. 
Verily,  no  wreck  has  struck  the  Bible  yet 


Q  U.ES  TIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRA  TION.       \  1 

Says  Thomas  Carlyle :  "  In  the  poorest  cottage  are 
books — is  one  Book,  wherein  for  several  thousands  of 
years  the  spirit  of  man  has  found  light,  nourishment, 
and  interpreting  response  to  whatever  is  deepest  in  him ; 
wherein  still,  to  this  day,  for  the  eye  that  will  look  well, 
the  mystery  of  existence  reflects  itself,  if  not  resolved,  yet 
revealed,  and  prophetically  emblemed  ;  if  not  to  the  satis- 
fying of  the  outward  sense,  yet  to  the  opening  of  the  in- 
ward sense,  which  is  the  far  grander  result." 

And  what  was  true  when  the  great  Scotchman  wrote 
these  words,  is  truer  still  to-day  of  the  expanding  sover- 
eignty of  the  Bible.  Yerily,  the  presence  and  influence 
of  the  Bible  in  the  world  of  mind  is  a  moral  phenomenon 
no  less  imperial  than  the  grasp  and  sway  of  the  great  ele- 
mental forces  in  the  world  which  we  call  physical. 

For  this  persistent  and  victorious  empire  of  the  Bible 
the  immemorial  explanation  and  affirmation  has  been  the 
INSPIRATION  or  IT.  And  by  Inspiration  has  been  always 
meant  that  the  Bible  was  given  to  man  ~by  God,  and  that 
it  was  so  given  that  it  becomes  for  man  the  authoritative 
and  infallible  standard  for  doctrine  and  for  deed. 

Now,  this  of  Inspiration,  and  therefore  of  Infallibility, 
is  not  a  new  claim  for  the  Bible ;  it  is  the  ancient  claim. 
And  yet,  even  so  fair  and  candid,  and  usually  scholarly 
a  man  as  Jarnes  Freeman  Clarke,  in  combating  the  ortho- 
dox doctrine  of  Inspiration,  will  allow  himself  to  make 
such  a  statement  as  is  to  be  found  on  the  94th  page  of  his 
"  Truths  and  Errors  of  Orthodoxy,"  where  he  says :  "  The 
orthodox  theory  rests  on  few  facts,  but  is  mainly  an  as- 
sumption. It  seemed  necessary  that  there  should  be  au- 
thority somewhere ;  and  when  Protestants  rejected  the 
authority  of  the  Church,  they  took  the  Bible  in  its  place. 
The  doctrine  of  inspiration,  therefore,  was  adopted  as  a 
basis  for  the  authority  of  the  Bible." 

And  so  the  doctrine  of  Inspiration,  no  older  than  the 


12      QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

"Reformation,  is  the  necessary  and  intended  inference. 
And  this  is  a  charge  not  ^infrequently  made  by  those 
who  would  dispute  the  doctrine. 

Let  us  listen  to'  the  Christian  Fathers  for  a  moment,  as 
Canon  Westcott  has  so  carefully  arranged  their  sayings  on 
this  matter  in  Appendix  B.  in  his  introduction  to  the 
Gospels,  and  entitled  "  On  the  Primitive.  Doctrine  of  In- 
spiration ": 

Epistle  of  Barnabas.  —  "  The  Lord  saith  in  the 
Prophet ";  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  prophesieth  ";  "  the 
prophets  received  their  gift  from  Christ  and  spake  of 
Him  ";  "  Moses  spake  in  the  Spirit." 

Clement  of  Rome.—"  The  Holy  Spirit  saith  ";  "  look 
carefully  into  the  Scriptures,  which  are  the  true  utter- 
ances  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  "  Ye  know,  beloved,  ye  know 
well  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  have  looked  carefully  into 
the  oracles  of  God"  ;  apostles  sent  to  preach  the  kingdom 
of  God  "  with  ike  full  assurance  and  measure  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  when  they  had  received  the  promises,  and  been 
fully  convinced  by  the  Resurrection,  and  confirmed  in  the 
word  of  God,"  of  whose  number,  "the  blessed  Paul,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Gospel,  in  very  truth  wrote  by  in- 
spiration" 

Ignatius. — "  For  the  divinest  prophets  lived  according 
to  Jesus  Christ,  'being  inspired  ly  His  grace  "/  "  I  do  not 
give  you  injunctions  as  Peter  and  Paul ;  they  were  apos- 
tles— I  a  condemned  man." 

Justin  Martyr. — The  "  history  which  Moses  wrote  l)y 
Divine  inspiration,  while  the  Holy  Spirit  of  prophecy 
taught  through  him";  "we  have  been  commanded  by 
Christ  himself  to  obey  not  the  teachings  of  men,  but  that 
which  hath  been  proclaimed  by  the  blessed  prophets  and 
taught  by  Him" 

Athenagoras. — The  Christian  "gives  no  heed  to  the 
doctrines  of  men,  but  those  uttered  and  taught  ly  God"; 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.      13 

"  he  has  prophets  as  witnesses  of  his  creed,  who,  inspired 
~by  the  Spirit,  have  spoken  of  God  and  the  things  of  God." 

Irenceus. — To  ns  "  the  apostles,  by  the  will  of  God, 
have  consigned  the  Gospel*  in  the  Scriptures  to  be  the 
ground  and  pillar  of  our  faith, — and  by  them  we  have 
learnt  the  truth ;  that  is,  the  doctrine  of  the  Son  of  God, 
—for  after  that  our  Lord  rose  from  the  dead,  and  they 
were  clothed  with  the  power  of  the  Spirit  from  on  high, 
they  were  filled  with  a  perfect  knowledge  in  all  things." 

Origen. — u  Truly,  it  is  most  evidently  preached  in  the 
churches  that  the  Holy  Spirit  inspired  each  of  the  saints, 
prophets,  and  apostles,  and  that  the  same  Spirit  was  pres- 
ent in  those  of  old  time,  as  in  those  who  were  inspired  at 
the  coming  of  Christ ";  Christ,  the  Word  of  God,  was  in 
"  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  l>y  His  Spirit  they  spake 
and  did  all  things";  "the  records  of  the  Gospels  are  ora- 
cles of  the  Lord — pure  oracles,  as  silver  purified  seven 
times  in  the  fire";  " they  were  accurately  written  l>y  the 
co-operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit" 

Surely,  it  were  hardly  possible  to  state,  in  any  words 
which  we  might  choose,  more  definitely  and  clearly  the 
doctrine  of  the  infallible  and  authoritative  Inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures.  This  is  no  modern  doctrine ;  it  is  the 
immemorial  claim.  As  they  did  for  so  many  other  doc- 
trines, the  creeds  of  the  Reformation  but  rescued  this,  of 
the  infallible  and  solely  authoritative  Inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  brought  it  out  from  the  blackening 
shadow  of  an  apostate  and  arrogating  Church  which  had 
been  declaring  itself  the  chief  authority. 

But  that,  concerning  this  doctrine  of  Inspiration  there 
is  in  our  day  much  doubt  and  discussion,  must  be  evident 
to  him  who  is  in  the  least  alive  to  the  tides  and  turnings 
of  thought  around  himself. 

Concerning  this  doctrine  of  Inspiration  I  propose  to 
ask,  and,  as  far  as  I  may  be  able,  to  answer,  four  questions, 


14       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

This  is  the  first  question :  What  is  that  for  which 
Inspiration  is  to  ~be  claimed f  King  James'  version? 
Certainly  not.  The  Canterbury  revision?  No.  The 
Douay  version?  Of  course  not.  The  Bishops'  version, 
the  Genevan,  Craniner's,  Tyndall's,  "Wicklifi's,  in  Ger- 
many Luther's — any  one  of  the  versions  which  have  ever 
been  made  at  any  time  or  anywhere — is  Inspiration  to  be 
claimed  for  all  or  any  one  of  these  ?  By  no  means.  Well, 
then,  of  the  most  ancient  and  precious  manuscripts  which 
we  possess  —  the  Ephraem  palimpsest  in  the  imperial 
library  at  Paris,  the  Alexandrian  codex  in  the  British 
Museum,  the  Vatican  codex  in  the  Vatican,  or  most  an- 
cient possibly,  and  most  complete  of  all,  the  Sinaitic 
codex  at  St.  Petersburg — of  these  most  venerable  and  in- 
estimably valuable  manuscripts  is  Inspiration  to  be 
claimed  ? 

The  Rev.  H.  R.  Haweis,  of  London,  said,  in  a  recent 
address  on  Inspiration,  before  the  students  of  Harvard 
University,  that  the  doctrine  of  Inspiration  comprised 
the  notion  of  inspired  copyists  and  inspired  printers  and 
even  of  inspired  printers'  devils — pitiable  and  worse  joke 
on  so  grave  a  subject. 

But  neither  for  versions  nor  for  manuscripts  is  Inspira- 
tion to  be  claimed.  lospiration  is  to  be  claimed  only  for 
the  primal  sacred  autographs. 

Immediately  do  we  admit  that  the  variations,  small  and 
great,  among  the  various  existing  manuscripts  number  not 
less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand.  And  while 
we  are  glad  to  know  that  the  most  of  these  variations  are 
only  those  of  spelling  and  inflection ;  that  there  are  not 
more  than  sixteen  hundred  or  two  thousand  places  where 
the  true  reading  is  at  all  in  doubt ;  that  the  places  where 
doubtful  readings  affect  the  sense  are  fewer  still ;  that  those 
of  any  dogmatic  importance  are  comparatively  immensely 
few ;  while  we  are  devoutly  thankful  to  what  we  believe 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION,       15 

to  be  a  Divine  Providence  which  has  so  marvellously 
preserved  for  us  a  knowledge  of  the  original  inspired 
text ;  and  while  we  rejoice  to  know  that  through  the  de- 
velopment of  the  science  of  Biblical  criticism  "  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  never  since  the  apostolic  age  was 
the  original  text  of  Scripture  more  accessible  than  it  is  to- 
day to  the  careful  student,"  let  it  be  forever  remem- 
bered that — to  quote  the  language  of  a  distinguished 
teacher  of  theology — "  we  affirm  Inspiration  and  author- 
ity of  the  original  Scriptures,  the  sacred  autographs,  but 
not  of  the  copies  or  versions." 

Many  alleged  errors  and  discrepancies  in  the  Scriptures 
are  the  fault  not  of  the  original  inspired  Scriptures,  but 
of  the  ignorance  or  carelessness  or  unwise  zeal  of  the 
copyist. 

"We  believe  a  most  gracious  Providence  has,  in  a  most 
wonderful  way,  kept  for  us  a  knowledge  of  the  original 
inspired  Scriptures.  But  that  Providential  guardianship, 
through  pen  of  copyist,  and  resistance  of  decay  of  parch- 
ment, and  secluded  resting-place  in  some  vault  or  library, 
and  stroke  of  the  printing-press  of  Guttenberg,  is  a  to- 
tally different  thing  from  that  divine  inspiration  and 
therefore  divine  authority  which  we  affirm  belongs,  for  ex- 
ample, to  that  first  copy  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
which  the  Apostle  dictated  and  to  which  he  affixed  his 
own  apostolic  signature.  It  is  that  text  which  is  the  in- 
spired text.  Copies  of  that  text  are  but  the  windows 
through  which  we  look  upon  that  text. 

This  is  the  second  question  :  What  was  the  method  of 
that  original  Inspiration  f 

Consider,  that  as  plainly  as  one  walking  on  the  sea- 
beach  holds  in  his  vision  two  diverse  elements — the  ground 
on  which  he  walks,  and  the  sea  heaving  to  the  far  margin, 
and  dashing  in  long  curls  of  foam  along  the  shore ;  so 
must  one,  looking  into  the  Bible,  be  immediately  con- 


16       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

scious  that  his  mental  vision  rests  also  upon  two  elements 
as  plainly  diverse,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  as  plainly 
evident,  namely,  the  divine  element  in  the  Scripture  and 
the  human. 

It  is  said  that  a  chaplain  of  Frederick  William  First  of 
Prussia,  having  been  ordered  to  give  the  briefest  possible 
proof  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  replied :  "  The  Jews, 
your  Majesty !  "  Certainly  a  most  happy  and  true  answer. 

In  the  centre  of  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  at  Paris, 
thrusting  its  straight  shaft  into  the  wonderful  vista  open- 
ing from  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries  to  the  majestic  Arch 
of  Triumph  crowning  that  distant  hill,  there  stands  an 
Egyptian  obelisk.  You  draw  near  and  gaze  upon  it,  and 
your  first  thought  is  that  of  difference.  That  single  block 
of  reddish  porphyritic  granite,  those  exact  sides  mounting 
upward  to  the  stars,  those  distinct  and  strange  yet  singu- 
larly beautiful  hieroglyphics  sculptured  into  its  faces,  pro- 
claim at  once  the  fact  that  there  is  an  immense  chasm  be- 
tween it  and  the  modern  buildings  and  statues  and  foun- 
tains which  surround  it.  It  belongs  to  another  age  and  to 
another  people  and  to  another  civilization  than  that  which 
spreads  its  roofs  and  lays  out  its  gardens  and  dashes  on  its 
tides  of  frivolity  and  pleasure  beneath  its  shadow  and 
around  its  base. 

And  amid  all  civilizations,  and  amid  all  countries,  and  in 
almost  every  city  of  the  old  world  and  the  new,  there  has 
been  lifted  the  shaft  of  a  nationality  as  un mingled  and  as 
easily  distinguished  and  as  severely-distinct  from  all  the 
other  peoples  amid  which  it  stands,  as  is  that  Egyptian 
obelisk  in  Paris  from  the  modern  buildings  around  it. 
Persecution,  climate,  various  environment,  so  active  and 
so  efficient  in  change  toward  all  other  peoples,  seem  to  be 
somehow  helpless  and  baffled  toward  this  people.  I  need  not 
wait  to  show  how  you  can  read  of  the  present  plight  and 
status  of  the  Jewish  people  in  those  old  prophecies,  uttered 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.       17 

and  written  thousands  of  years  ago,  as  plainly  as  to-day  you 
can  see  their  plight  and  status  in  the  streets  of  any  modern 
city. 

In  this  photographically  exact  forecasting  of  the  future 
of  which  history,  as  the  days  go,  becomes  but  the  more 
and  more  precise  fulfillment,  and  which  is  so  evidently 
utterly  above  any  human  ken  or  guess,  in  this  large  pro- 
phetic araa  of  the  Scripture,  how  plainly  does  this  divine 
element  appear. 

So  also,  does  the  divine  element  appear  in  all  those  dis- 
closures concerning  that  other  world  to  which  we  hasten. 
It  is  divine  light  which  shines  down  into  our  dark  world 
from  the  New  Jerusalem.  Forevermore  the  tomb  has 
been  too  awfully  opaque  for  man's  poor  vision  to  descry 
beyond  it. 

So  also,  does  the  divine  element  appear  in  all  those  match- 
less principles  and  precepts  which  make  the  Bible  so  unique 
a  book.  No  merely  human  teacher  could  have  ever  uttered 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Indeed,  a  constant  element  in 
the  Bible  is  this  divine  element.  What  the  blood  is  to  the 
body,  is  the  divine  element  to  the  Scripture. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  an  element  as  real  and  as  per- 
vasive is  the  Human.  Moses,  Samuel,  David,  Solomon, 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezra,  Ezekiel,  Malachi,  Paul,  Matthew, 
Luke,  Mark,  James,  Peter,  John — these  are  men,  and 
they  and  the  other  inspired  writers  with  them,  do 
bring  into  this  Scripture  a  distinctively  human  element. 

They  bring  into  the  Scriptures  a  human  element,  in  that 
they  so  manifest  diverse  temperaments.  Moses  is  never 
Joshua,  nor  Isaiah  Jeremiah,  nor  Ezra  Ezekiel,  nor  Paul 
Peter,  nor  the  far-flashing,  deep-hearted  John  the  prosaic 
James. 

They  bring  into  the  Scripture  a  human  element, 
in  that  they  reflect  their  different  environments.  As 
the  mountains  and  seas  and  pellucid  airs  of  Greece  appear 


18       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

in  Homer,  so  do  these  human  writers  of  the  Scripture  be- 
come the  mirrors  of  their  surroundings.  The  thunder- 
storm, marshalling  the  squadrons  of  its  black  clouds  upon 
those  flanks  of  Lebanon  which  David  could  behold,  flashes 
and  crashes  in  David's  Psalms ;  the  figures  of  Ezekiel  get 
their  shape  from  that  grotesque  but  powerfully  significant 
Assyrian  sculpture  amid  which  he  was  exile ;  you  can 
see  the  impress  of  Gamaliel's  school  on  Paul ;  and  if  one 
did  not  know  of  his  long  imprisonments  in  their  garri- 
sons, one  would  easily  suspect  that  Paul  must  have  been 
thrust  into  the  closest  contact  with  soldiers  from  his  con- 
stant military  figures. 

These  writers  bring  into  the  Scripture  a  human  ele- 
ment, in  that  they  constantly  manifest  their  own  peculiari- 
ties and  idiosyncrasies  of  style.  They  are  never  in  the 
least,  like  puppets,  compelled.  They  are  always  like  free 
men,  freely  disporting  according  to  their  natural  make 
and  inclination.  He  only  sings  and  soars  a  poet  in  the 
Scripture  who,  like  David  or  Isaiah,  is  naturally  a  poet. 
The  logical  Paul  argues.  The  deep,  mystical  John,  with- 
out argument,  announces. 

Further,  there  is  a  human  element  wrought  into  the  Scrip- 
ture, in  that  entirely  natural  and  usual  human  conditions 
are  made  use  of.  The  prophetic  vision  is  flashed  into  a 
dream  as  the  prophet  sleeps ;  and  even  trances  and  trans- 
ports frequently  take  their  rise  and  borrow  their  meaning 
from  the  then  surroundings  of  the  subject  of  them.  It  is 
to  the  hungry  Peter  who  would  have  eaten,  that  the  revela- 
tion of  the  obliteration  of  the  vast  distinction  between  Jew 
and  Gentile  in  the  Christian  Church  is  made,  under  the 
form  of  food  for  which  his  hunger  was  then  calling. 

There  is  also  a  human  element  brought  into  the  Scrip- 
ture, in  that  the  mightiest  and  most  far-reaching  instruc- 
tion for  all  the  ages  is  made  to  hang  on  entirely  hum'an 
and  natural  events.  They  were  the  worldliness  and  de- 


Q UESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRA  TION.       \  9 

filement  and  clashings  of  the  little  clmrch  at  Corinth  that 
called  out,  and,  on  the  human  side,  were  the  causes  of  the 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians. 

There  is,  in  addition,  a  human  element  carried  into  the 
Scripture,  in  that  so  large  a  portion  of  it  is  but  a  record 
historical  and  biographical.  For  this,  no  disclosure  from 
God  was  needful ;  there  need  be  nothing  more  than  a 
transcription  of  the  archives  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  or 
of  the  kingdom  of  Israel, — as  simply  human  an  operation 
as  can  be  well  conceived  of. 

Here  are  evidences,  and  many  others  might  be  men- 
tioned too,  of  a  human  element  at  work  in  the  Scripture, 
an  element  as  really  human  as— to  put  it  no  lower — Plato 
was  human  when  he  discoursed  concerning  his  republic. 

I  do  not  know  a  finer  phrase  which  at  once  condenses 
and  expresses  all  that  I  have  been  saying  of  these  evidently 
present  and  different  elements  in  Scripture,  than  that  of 
Professor  Murphy,  the  author  of  what  seems  to  me  the 
most  wonderfully  luminous  commentary  extant  on  the 
Genesis:  "The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  with  all  the 
peculiarities  of  man,  and  all  the  authority  of  God." 

I  have  read  of  an  amateur  painter  who  one  day,  having 
finished  a  landscape  sketch,  found  that  he  had  gotten  the 
rocks  in  the  foreground  of  it  altogether  wrongly  placed 
and  painted.  Rather  than  paint  out  his  rocks  and  paint 
them  in  again  aright,  he  would  change  the  rocks.  So, 
with  spade  and  crowbar,  and  digging  and  tugging,  he  falls 
to  and  forces  the  rocks  into  some  poor  accordance  with  his 
picture.  It  is  not  infrequently  that  thus,  holders  of  pet 
theories  treat  facts.  They  will  not  adjust  their  theory  to 
the  facts.  They  will  misplace  facts  to  their  theory. 

I  suppose,  concerning  no  doctrine  has  a  bad  theory 
wrought  more  mischief  than  with  this  of  Inspiration,  be- 
cause the  reaction  has  been  so  often  and  so  quick  to  the 
denial  of  Inspiration  altogether.  I  do  not  suppose  that 


20       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

many  in  these  days  hold  the  bald  and  distorting  mechanic 
cal  theory ;  but  the  results,  in  a  kind  of  weakening  hold  of 
the  doctrine  of  Inspiration,  on  the  public  mind,  show  plainly 
enough,  the  evil  of  its  ever  having  been  holden.  While 
there  is  about  this  theory  of  the  method  of  Inspiration 
great  show  of  reverence,  there  is  really  no  reverence  in  it 
at  all,  because  it  so  plainly  dashes  itself  athwart  God's  facts. 
When  even  so  great  a  man  as  the  judicious  Hooker  says : 
"  The  sacred  writers,  as  often  as  God  engaged  them  in  this 
heavenly  work,  neither  spoke  nor  wrote  anything  of  their 
own,  but  uttered  syllable  by  syllable  as  the  Spirit  put  it  into 
their  mouths  ";  when  he  thus  degrades  the  sacred  writers 
from  penmen  into  pens,  he  only  makes  most  injudicious 
mischief  by  a  statement  so  already  at  variance  with  the  plain 
facts ;  and  all  who  thus  in  their  thought  and  theory  and 
speech  deny  or  tend  toward  the  denying  of  the  plain  human 
element  in  Scripture,  help  on  and  perpetuate  the  mischief. 

And  it  is  to  be  said  that  it  was  with  precisely  this  me- 
chanical notion  of  Inspiration  that  Coleridge  broke,  when 
enunciating  his  criterion  of  Inspiration  as  that  which  finds 
him,  he  goes  on  to  protest  against  "  the  doctrine  which  re- 
quires me  to  believe  that  not  only  what  finds  me,  but  all 
that  exists  in  the  sacred  volume,  and  which  I  am  bound  to 
find  therein,  was  not  only  inspired  by,  that  is,  composed  by 
men  under  the  actuating  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but 
likewise  dictated  by  an  infallible  Intelligence." 

In  attempting  to  state  a  theory  of  the  method  of  Inspira- 
tion which  shall  seek  to  adjust  itself  with  the  facts  and  not 
the  facts  with  itself ;  which  shall  humbly  and  reverently 
recognize  the  divine  element  in  the  Scripture,  but  at  the 
same  time  as  really  the  so  manifestly  freely  acting  human 
element  in  it,  let  certain  things  be  remembered. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  Inspiration  is  not  necessarily 
dictation.  I  quote  here  the  illustration,  and,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  words  of  another : 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.       21 

"When  Benjamin  Franklin  was  a  young  man,  one  of 
his  hungriest  desires  was  to  acquire  a  perfect  style  of 
writing;  and,  as  he  admired  Addison  more  than  any 
other  author,  he  was  accustomed  to  take  an  essay  of  the 
1  Spectator,'  and  make  very  full  notes  of  all  its  thoughts, 
images,  sentiments,  and  of  some  few  of  its  phrases.  He 
would  then  place  his  manuscript  in  his  drawer,  wait  sev- 
eral weeks,  or  until  he  had  forgotten  the  language  of  the 
original,  and  then  would  take  his  memoranda  and  write 
out  an  essay  including  every  idea,  emotion,  flash  of  im- 
agination he  had  transferred  from  Addison  to  his  notes, 
and  would  seek  thus  to  make  his  coarser  and  rougher 
style  something  like  Addison's  smooth  and  quietly  flow- 
ing one.  Franklin's  essay  was  in  such  a  case  not  dicta- 
ted, but  was  inspired  by  Addison. 

"  Orthodoxy  believes  the  Bible  to  be  inspired,  and  her 
definition  of  inspiration  is  the  gift  of  infallibility  in  teach- 
ing moral  and  religious  truth.  But,  by  inspiration  thus 
defined,  orthodoxy  does  not  mean  dictation.  She  means 
that  the  Bible  is  as  full  of  God  as  Franklin's  echoed 
essay  was  of  Addison.  As  in  his  essay  there  were  both  an 
Addisonian  and  a  Franklinian  element,  so,  speaking 
roundly,  there  are  in  the  Bible  a  divine  and  a  human  ele- 
ment, but  the  latter  is  swallowed  up  in  the  former  even 
more  completely  than  the  Franklinian  was  in  the  Addi- 
sonian. All  the  thought  in  Franklin's  essay  is,  by  sup- 
position, Addison's,  and  some  of  the  phrases  are  his,  but 
Franklin's  words  are  there.  All  the  moral  and  religious 
thought  of  the  Bible  is,  according  to  the  definition  of  inspi- 
ration, divine,  and  so  are  some  of  the  phrases,  but  human 
words  are  there." 

Let  it  be  further  remembered  that  Inspiration  is  not 
necessarily  Revelation.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  quite 
possible  to  make  out  from  the  Scripture  the  distinction 
which  Archdeacon  Lee  insists  on — that  Eevelation  and 


22       Q  UES  TIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRA  TION. 

Inspiration  differ  generally  as  to  the  source — Revelation 
being  the  office  of  the  divine  Word,  and  Inspiration  of  the 
divine  Spirit.  There  is  much  in  the  Scripture  which  is 
Revelation,  as  when  Paul  declares  to  the  Galatiaris  that 
he  received  the  Gospel  which  he  preached  by  Revelation. 
There  is  much  in  the  Bible  for  which  no  Revelation  what- 
ever was  necessary.  The  subject-matter  of  it  was  already 
in  existence.  It  was,  for  example,  sheer  and  simple  and 
recorded  history.  The  sacred  writer  was  a  mere  copyist, 
transcribing,  for  example,  the  lists  of  kings  in  Chronicles. 
But,  while  Revelation  had  nothing  to  do  with  such  a  pro- 
cess as  this,  Inspiration  plainly  had.  Inspiration  has  to 
do  with  the  accurate  transmission  of  truth  to  future  ages. 
And  as  Inspiration  aided  Paul  to  tell  the  Gospel  which  he 
received  by  Revelation,  accurately,  to  set  its  mighty  mean- 
ings forth,  free  from  error,  in  his  wonderful  epistles,  so  I 
believe  Inspiration  enabled  the  compiler  of  the  Chronicles 
to  give  that  section  of  Jewish  history  to  men  inerrant, 
to  use  the  word  just  now  in  vogue.  But  Revelation  and 
Inspiration  are  diverse.  As  an  inspired  man  might  re- 
ceive new  truth  from  God  as  Paul  did,  so  an  inspired  man 
might  go  searching  amid  musty  records  to  find  out  historic 
truth,  as  the  compiler  of  the  Chronicles,  we  will  suppose, 
did.  The  inspiration  is  concerned  about  the  accurate  set- 
ting forth  of  the  subject-matter,  whether  it  be  a  great 
gospel,  or  a  snatch  of  history  about  the  reign  of  some  ob- 
scure and  ancient  king. 

Let  us  also  remember  that  profound  sentence  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  B.  Smith  :  "  God  speaks  through  the  personal- 
ity as  well  as  through  the  lips  of  His  messengers."  Pour 
into  that  word  "  personality  "  everything  which,  speaking 
generally,  goes  to  form  personality — the  age  in  which  the 
person  lived,  his  environment,  his  degree  of  culture,  his 
temperament,  whether  logical,  like  that  of  Paul,  or  mys- 
tical, like  that  of  John. 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.       23 

And  now,  remembering  these  things,  that  Inspiration 
is  not  necessarily  dictation ;  nor  Revelation ;  and  that  a 
personality  would  be  chosen  of  God  just  because  that  per- 
sonality was  the  one  best  fitted,  because  of  temperament, 
environment,  culture,  to  set  forth  the  sort  of  truth  just 
then  necessary  to  be  set  forth — it  seems  to  me  that  we 
must  see  that  Inspiration  was  not  a  mechanical,  crass,  bald 
compulsion  of  the  sacred  writers ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  such,  dynamic,  divine,  influence  over  his  freely -acting 
faculties,  that  his  faculties,  in  their  relation  to  the  saying 
forth,  or  the  writing  forth,  of  the  subject-matter  then  in 
hand  were  kept  inerrant. 

In  this  view,  even  personal  character  is  not  a  necessary 
element  in  Inspiration.  Even  the  covetous  Balaam  or  the 
double-dealing  Caiaphas  may,  for  the  moment,  accurately 
say  forth  the  truth  of  God. 

Nor  were  the  sacred  writers  any  further  influenced  than 
toward  the  setting  forth  of  the  special  subject-matter  of 
the  truth  just  then  in  hand.  Entire  accuracy  here  might 
easily  consist  with  ignorance  or  failure  of  memory  toward 
other  things.  The  teaching,  and  the  expression  of  that 
teaching,  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  are  entirely 
accurate ;  at  the  same  time,  it  is  possible  that  Paul  should 
not  be  able  to  recollect  how  many  people  he  had  baptized 
at  Corinth — a  thing  aside  from  the  particular  subject- 
matter  of  the  Epistle. 

And  now  in  concluding  the  answer  to  this  second  ques- 
tion as  to  the  method  of  Inspiration,  let  me  transcribe  a 
brief  passage  from  the  u  Inspiration  of  Scripture,"  by  Arch- 
deacon Lee,  a  book  which,  though  written  as  far  back  as 
1854,  does  not  seem  to  me  to  have  been  surpassed  by  any 
subsequent  book,  I  know,  upon  the  subject.  Says  Arch- 
deacon Lee : 

"  In  the  combination  of  the  two  elements  thus  co-operating, 
namely,  the  actuation  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  distinct 


24:       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

but  subordinate  agency  of  man,  consists — what  has  been  usu 
ally  termed — the  dynamical  theory  of  Inspiration.  According 
to  this  theory  the  Holy  Ghost  employs  man's  faculties  in  con- 
formity with  their  natural  laws  ;  at  the  same  time  animat- 
ing, guiding,  moulding  them  so  as  to  accomplish  the  Divine 
purpose,  just  as  in  nature  the  principle  of  life,  when  annexed 
to  certain  portions  of  matter,  exhibits  its  vital  energy  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  conditions  which  that  matter  imposes  ;  while 
it  governs  and  directs,  at  the  same  time,  the  organism  with 
which  it  is  combined.  We  must  therefore  look  upon  Inspi- 
ration as  a  divine  power,  acting  not  only  on  but  through  man. 
We  must  not  regard  the  sacred  penmen,  on  the  one  hand,  as 
passive  machines,  yielding  to  an  external  mechanical  force— 
such  a  view  takes  in  merely  the  objective  side  of  Inspiration  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  if  we  dwell  solely  upon  the  subjective  phase 
of  this  influence,  we  lose  sight  of  the  living  connection  of 
the  writer  with  God.  Were  this  latter  conception  correct,  the 
authors  of  the  Scripture,  following  the  impulse  of  their  own 
genius  and  in  accordance  with  their  own  judgment,  proceeded, 
in  the  natural  course  of  things,  to  develop  new  inferences  f roni 
the  germ  of  truth  implanted  within  them.  The  true  theory, 
as  it  recoils  from  any  such  negation  of  the  Divine  majesty  of 
the  Bible,  so  it  equally  ignores  the  defective  estimate  of  the 
opposite  extreme.  The  human  element,  instead  of  being  sup- 
pressed, becomes  an  integral  part  of  the  agency  employed  ;  the 
peculiar  type  of  each  writer's  nature  was  even  essential  to  the 
due  reception  of  that  particular  phase  of  truth  presented  by  his 
statements ;  his  share  in  the  great  work  was  apportioned  to  the 
order  of  his  intellect  and  the  class  of  his  emotions  ;  while  his 
characteristic  form  of  expression  was  absolutely  requisite  for 
the  adequate  and  complete  conveyance  of  His  Divine  message." 

As  Canon  Westcott  has  said :  "  The  Bible  is  authorita- 
tive, for  it  is  the  voice  of  God ;  it  is  intelligible,  for  it  is 
in  the  language  of  men" 

I  think  all  I  have  been  saying  will  enable  me  to  make 
a  very  speedy  answer  to  the  third  question  I  have  to  ask 
concerning  Inspiration — namely,  What  is  the  extent  of  it  ? 

Does  Inspiration  extend  to  every  part  of  Scripture  ?  It 
seems  to  ine,  recollecting  that  Inspiration  has  to  do  with 


Q UESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRA  TION.       25 

the  transmission  of  truth;  and  recollecting  also  the  dis- 
tinction between  Revelation  and  Inspiration ;  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  answer  must  be  an  immediate  yes — Inspira- 
tion extends  to  the  whole  of  Scripture,  to  your  dry  list 
in  Chronicles  as  much  as  to  the  detailing  of  Isaiah's  vision, 
or  of  the  wonderful  words  of  the  Master  in  the  upper 
room,  or  of  the  linked  arguments  of  Paul.  The  true  for- 
mula cannot  be,  the  Bible  contains  the  word  of  God ;  it 
must  be,  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God. 

But  further,  does  Inspiration  extend  not  simply  to  the 
thought,  but  also  to  the  very  words  of  Scripture  ?  Re- 
membering that  while  Inspiration  is  not  necessarily  dic- 
tation, but  also  remembering  that  Inspiration  is  the  dy- 
namic Divine  guidance  of  faculty,  it  seems  to  me  again 
that  the  answer  must  be  immediately  yes — Inspiration  ex- 
tends even  to  the  very  words  of  Scripture. 

But  here  I  would  reject  the  old  phrase  "  verbal  Inspi- 
ration" because  it  is  a  phrase  so  conjoined  with  the  old, 
bad,  mechanical  theory  of  remorseless  dictation.  But  I 
would  hold  to  and  affirm  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scripture 
even  as  to  words  in  the  phrase  plenary  Inspiration,  which 
means  that  the  Scripture  is  full  of  Inspiration  up  to  and 
including  its  words.  In  what  way  full,  the  dynamic  the- 
ory explains. 

I  think  this  matter  of  the  Plenary  Inspiration  of  Scrip- 
ture, even  to  its  words,  a  most  important  one.  Granting 
that,  by  a  straining  and  breathless  tug  of  inward-looking 
attention,  you  can  dimly  distinguish  in  your  consciousness 
between  the  thought  and  the  words,  still  must  remain  in- 
disputably true,  I  think,  this  statement  of  Dr.  Hodge,  of 
Princeton :  "  The  thoughts  are  in  the  words.  The  two 
are  inseparable.  If  the  words  priest,  sacrifice,  ransom, 
expiation,  propitiation,  purification  by  blood,  and  the  like, 
have  no  divine  authority,  then  the  doctrine  which  they 
embody  has  no  such  authority." 


26       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPTRATfON. 

You  confront  me  with  objections.  You  point  me,  for 
example,  to  the  discrepant  accounts  concerning  the  Resur- 
rection. I  answer,  plainly  to  me  at  least,  these  are  not 
discrepant  accounts.  They  are  only  different  sides  of  a 
great  fact  as  different  people  saw  these  different  sides. 
These  apparent  discrepancies  are  even  valuable  to  me  as 
manifest  evidence  of  the  perfectly  freely  acting  human 
faculty,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

You  point  me  to  variations  as  to  numbers.  I  answer,  we  do 
not  claim  inspiration  for  copyists,  and  precisely  here  is 
where  copyists  would  be  likeliest  to  blunder.  Besides,  we 
have  to  do  with  oriental  methods  of  computation,  which, 
as  I  have  read,  "  permit  one  to  write  first  the  units,  and 
then  the  tens,  and  then  the  hundreds,  or  to  reverse  the  or- 
der and  write  the  highest  first."  Hence  confusion  and  the 
liability  to  tumble  over  statements  in  translation.  For 
example,  in  Samuel  where  fifty  thousand,  threescore  and 
ten  men  are  mentioned,  it  is  literally  seventy,  and  fifty 
and  a  thousand,  which  may  mean  either,  as  in  our  version, 
fifty  thousand  threescore  and  ten,  or  it  may  mean  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy.  Before  declaring 
against  the  plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  because 
of  variations  in  numbers,  I  will  wait  until  it  is  sure  to  be 
absolutely  impossible  to  harmonize  the  variant  numbers. 

You  fling  at  me  the  imprecatory  Psalms.  I  answer, 
with  Professor  Phelps :  when  Milton  sang  his  sonnet  on 
the  slaughter  of  the  martyrs,  in  Piedmont, — 

' '  Avenge,  O  Lord,  Thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold," — 

he  gave  expression  to  a  feeling  of  indignation  against  ter- 
rible wrong  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  righteous. 
His  words  are  the  reflection  of  the  divine  opyrj.  The 
quality  of  righteous  wrath  is  in  God,  therefore  it  ought 
to  be  in  a  healthy  literature  written  by  man,  who  is  the 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.       2Y 

image  of  God.  I  think  imprecatory  Psalms  ought  to  be 
expected  in  Scripture.  I  think,  were  there  no  imprecatory 
Psalms  in  Scripture  there  were  missed  one  of  the  firmest 
evidences  of  its  divine  origination. 

You  point  me  to  apparent  clashes  with  scientific 
theories.  I  answer,  the  Bible  is  a  book  whicli  teaches 
morals.  The  idea  of  Inspiration  is  infallibility  in  the 
realm  of  morals  and  religion.  Its  speech  about  scientific 
facts  must  therefore  be  according  to  the  popular  concep- 
tion of  those  facts.  But,  on  the  one  hand,  scientific  theory 
does  not  always  prove  itself  to  be  scientific  fact.  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  have  been  already  proven  too  many 
strange  fore-pointings  and  fore-flashings  toward  the  latest 
scientific  facts  in  the  very  turn  of  the  words  of  the  won- 
derful book,  to  make  me  fear  that  Scriptural  expression 
and  real  scientific  fact  will,  at  last,  not  be  found  in  har- 
mony. 

ISTo,  as  to  the  extent  of  Inspiration,  I  continue  to  affirm 
the  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scripture. 

There  is  but  one  remaining  question  I  have  to  ask  and 
to  seek  to  answer  concerning  Inspiration  in  order  to  cover 
the  ground  I  have  intended  in  this  paper.  That  question 
is:  What  was  the  quality  of  this  Inspiration  —  was 
it  only  greater  in  degree,  but  the  same  in  kind,  as  that 
which  we  call — speaking  too  loosely  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing— the  inspiration  of  men  now,  of  the  great  poet  when 
lie  soars  and  sings,  of  the  great  philosopher  when  he 
thinks,  of  the  great  orator  when  he  speaks  ?  Or  if  not 
this,  was  it  only  greater  in  degree,  but  the  same  in  kind, 
as  that  most  benignant  and  illuminating  touch  of  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  which  is  the  gracious  gift  to-day  to  Christians  ? 
Was  this  Inspiration  of  the  sacred  writers  similar  then  to 
these,  or  was  it  an  Inspiration  different  both  in  kind  and 
in  degree — peculiar,  unique,  solitary,  separated  by  chasm 
widest  and  deepest  from  all  other  sorts  of  spiritual  influ- 


28       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

ence  which  may,  by  any  careless  and  popular  stretch  of 
language,  be  denominated  Inspiration  ? 

I  answer,  this  Inspiration  of  the  sacred  writers  was  in 
the  strictest  sense  solitary,  singular,  separate,  different  by 
complete  chasm  both  in  kind  and  in  degree.  And  I  think 
this  to  be  the  true  answer  for  these,  among  many  other, 
reasons. 

Because  the  Bible,  the  issue  of  this  Inspiration,  is  so  unique. 
"We  are  so  familiar  with  the  wonder  that  it  is  stripped 
of  its  wonder,  and  yet  nothing  is  more  wonderful.  Here 
are  sixty-six  books,  stringing  along  through  different  ages, 
for  a  space  of  nearly  two  thousand  years.  Some  of  them 
written  in  an  age  barbarous,  some  of  them  written  in  an 
age  of  the  highest  civilization,  springing  out  of  the  most 
diverse  environments,  and  yet  at  last  brought  together,  and 
bound  together,  and  constituting  the  Bible ;  and  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  one  unclashing  and  increasing  pur- 
pose runs.  In  all  the  world's  literature  there  is  not  an  ap- 
proach to  such  majestic  and  unique  example.  Such  dif- 
ference of  effect  points  surely  to  difference  of  cause. 

Because,  again  :  The  effect  of  what  we  ought  to  call  the 
illumination  of  Christians  by  the  Holy  Spirit  is  different, 
manifestly,  from  the  effect  of  Inspiration  on  the  sacred 
writers.  Illumination  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Christians 
now,  does  not  result  in  giving  to  Christians  new  truth — 
it  only  results  in  rendering  vivid  to  them  the  truth  already 
given.  Sanctify  them  through  Thy  truth,  Thy  word  is 
truth.  Pastor  John  Robinson  was  plainly  right  in  telling 
the  pilgrims,  as  they  left  Delfthaven,  that  without  doubt 
new  light  would  flash  upon  them ;  but  he  was  also,  as 
plainly  right,  in  telling  them  whence  it  would  flash— -from 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  had  no  thought  of  any  revela- 
tion of  new  truth,  only  of  the  vivider  vision  of  truth  al- 
ready revealed.  But  through  the  inspiration  of  the  sacred 
writers  a  vast  amount  of  new  truth  has  been  given  to  the 


QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION.       29 

world.  Since  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  sacred  writers  is  thus  different  in  kind  of  re- 
sult, the  inspiration  of  the  sacred  writers  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  illumination  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Chris- 
tians now,  must  be  different  in  kind. 

Because,  again :  Only  as  difference  in  kind  as  well  as  in 
degree  of  Divine  action  in  the  sacred  writers  is  insisted  on, 
is  it  possible  to  hold  the  Scripture  in  its  proper  place  as 
the  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  Why  only  to 
the  sacred  writers  should  such  degree  of  Divine  influence 
be  given  ?  Why  is  the  canon  closed,  if  inspiration  of  the 
sort  of  the  sacred  writers  is  still  possible  ? 

And,  once  more :  Because  the  Scripture  itself  distinctly 
assures  us  that  there  are  diversities  of  operations  by  the 
same  Spirit.  Now  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the 
same  Spirit ;  and  there  are  differences  of  ministries,  but 
the  same  Lord;  and  there  are  diversities  of  operations, 
but  it  is  the  same  God  which  worketh  all  in  all. 

Suppose  I  say,  as  I  once  heard  a  most  intelligent  Chris- 
tian say,  that  wherever  the  Holy  Spirit  is,  there  is  Inspi- 
ration. That  is  true ;  but  it  is  only  true  as  I  make  that 
word  Inspiration  a  word  so  great  and  wide  that  it  covers 
all  the  operations  of  the  Divine  Spirit — regeneration,  sanc- 
tification,  illumination,  guidance.  I  cannot  say  that  all 
these  are  present  whenever  the  Holy  Spirit  is  present,  be- 
cause, to  the  regenerate  man  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  present 
to  regenerate,  but  is  present  to  sanctify.  There  are  differ- 
ences of  ministries.  I  have  no  right  to  make  that  word 
Inspiration  so  wide  a  one.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
think  clearly,  or  speak  clearly,  theologically,  and  do  it. 
There  are  diversities  of  operations.  "For  no  prophecy 
ever  came  by  the  will  of  man  ;  but  men  spake  from  God, 
being  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost"  (2  Peter  i.  21).  Ttaaa 
ypacp?)  OeoTtvevffToZ  (2  Tim.  iii.  16).  The  only  time  the 
word  "inspired"  occurs  in  the  Bible  it  occurs  in  connec-* 


30       QUESTIONS  CONCERNING  INSPIRATION. 

tion  with  the  word  translated  Scripture.  These  passages 
seem  to  me  plainly  to  point  to  a  distinct  and  diverse  op- 
eration of  the  Holy  Spirit  toward  the  writers  of  the  Scrip- 
ture. Both  in  kind  and  in  degree  was  the  action  of  the 
Holy  'Spirit  different  and  lonely  in  the  Inspiration  of  the 
sacred  writers. 

Said  the  suffering  Sir  Walter  Scott  to  his  son-in-law, 
Mr.  Lockhart,  as  Sir  Walter  lay  there,  faint  and  feeble 
amid  the  thickly-gathering  shadows  of  his  last  illness — 
said  he  in  answer  to  Mr.  Lockhart's  question,  "What 
book  shall  I  read  to  you  \ "  "  Why  do  you  ask  that  ques- 
tion 2  There  is  but  one  book.  Bring  me  the  Bible." 

There  is  but  one  book ;  it  is  the  Bible ;  and  it  is,  and 
it  must  remain,  the  one  booJt,  because  it,  and  it  alone,  has 
been  given  by  the  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


THE  KELATION  OF  THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE 
PENTATEUCH. 

J.    M.    STIFLER,    D.D. 

THIS  topic  is  somewhat  arbitrary.  The  Bible  is  one 
complete  organism — the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments  be- 
ing interlinked  and  related  at  every  point  and  page.  But 
this  vital  connection  is  not  methodical  or  mechanical. 
The  roots  and  the  limbs  of  a  tree  are  one,  but  it  would  be 
impossible  to  say  what  is  the  peculiar  relation  of  a  partic- 
ular root  to  a  particular  branch.  The  Pentateuch  and 
the  Gospels  are  not  specially  and  peculiarly  related.  The 
one  stands  toward  the  other  just  as  the  entire  Old  Testa- 
ment stands  toward  the  New.  The  parts  are  related  only 
because  the  whole  is.  In  .discussing,  then,  the  relation 
between  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Gospels,  it  is  not  intended 
that  their  coincidence  is  special.  A  part  of  the  subject  is 
considered  instead  of  the  whole. 

I.  The  relation  through  the  genealogical  tables  in  Mat- 
thew and  Luke  is  more  profound  than  it  appears  at  first 
sight.  The  quiet  way  in  which  these  tables  are  introduced 
seems  to  say  that  the  histories  of  the  Old  Testament  are 
now  simply  carried  a  step  further,  or,  if  you  please,  to 
their  sequel  and  consummation.  There  is  no  violent  break 
between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  first  page  of  the  New, 
either  in  their  spirit  or  subject.  The  Gospels  are  prima- 
rily concerned  about  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  And  the  story 
of  His  life  is  taken  up  precisely  as  that  of  Abraham  in 
the  twelfth  chapter  of  Genesis.  This  chapter  is  immedi- 
ately preceded  by  a  table,  showing  Abraham's  descent 
from  Shem.  Shem  begat  Selah,  Selah  begat  Eber,  and 
so  on  to  Nahor,  who  begat  Terah,  and  Terah  lived  seventy 

(31) 


32        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTA  TEUCH. 

years  and  begat  Abram.  After  this,  the  history  of  Abra- 
ham is  given  chapter  after  chapter.  The  history  of  Noah 
and  of  others  is  introduced  in  a  similar  way.  Now  prom- 
inently Matthew  begins  in  this  Old  Testament  fashion, 
and  as  quietly  assumes  connection,  and  the  same  sort  of 
connection,  with  the  Old  Testament  as  appears  in  Moses 
between  the  previous  chapters  of  his  Genesis  and  the 
twelfth,  where  he  begins  the  story  of  Abraham.  And 
under  this  assumption  there  is  another,  viz.,  that  Matthew 
is  continuing  the  Old  Testament  story,  so  that  the  two  are 
intimately  joined. 

The  same  in  large  measure  is  true  of  Luke,  although  he 
does  not  begin  his  Gospel  with  the  table.  "While  Mark 
and  John  have  no  table,  the  latter  obviously  connects  his 
Gospel  with  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  by  a  higher  gene- 
alogy. This  appears  in  two  things.  First,  the  similarity 
of  thought,  even  of  words.  Genesis  reads :  "  In  the  be- 
ginning God  created."  John  says :  "  In  the  beginning 
was  God."  Genesis,  in  detail,  tells  how  God  created  all. 
John  summarizes:  "All  things  were  made  by  Him." 
Genesis  gives  the  origin  of  life  and  light.  John  says: 
"  In  Him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men." 
But,  secondly,  who  fails  to  observe  that  John  throws  up 
and  forward  into  such  a  flood  of  light  that  nothing  else 
meanwhile  appears,  the  lv  apxy,  the  very  first  words  of 
Genesis  in  the  Septuagint.  Observe,  too,  the  same  sub- 
lime assertion  about  "  light "  and  "  darkness."  The  simi- 
larity between  the  first  five  verses  of  Genesis  and  the  first 
five  in  John  cannot  be  accidental. 

While  Mark  has  no  genealogical  table,  and  no  other 
sign  of  immediate  connection,  does  not  his  abrupt  initial 
statement  seem  to  assume  as  well  understood  what  Mat- 
thew and  Luke  more  formally  state  ?  The  Gospels  do  not 
begin  a  story,  they  continue  one.  "Without  the  Pentateuch 
they  would  be  each  a  torso. 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.        33 

II.  There  is  an  unmistakable  relation  in  subject-matter 
between  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Gospels.  They  give  the 
same  origin  of  the  race — Adam  ;  the  same  God — Jehovah, 
with  the  same  character — holy.  They  deal  largely  with 
the  same  nation  and  a  peculiar  nation.  They  trace  that 
nation  to  a  common  ancestor,  Abraham.  In  a  word,  the 
Pentateuch  and  the  Gospels  have  a  like  relation  to  a 
circle,  first  of  great  moral  thoughts,  and  secondly  of  his- 
torical incidents  interwoven  with  them. 

And  yet  these  things  are  but  details.  To  stop  here  is 
to  leave  almost  wholly  out  the  main  subject.  The  Gospels 
are  not  treating  primarily  about  Abraham  and  Moses, 
about  law  and  sacrifice,  about  precepts  and  ethical 
principles.  They  are  chiefly  concerned  about  the  Christ 
— portraitures  of  Him. 

Says  Edersheim,  in  his  preface  to  the  "  Life  and  Times 
of  Jesus  ":  "  Rather  must  the  Gospels  be  regarded  as  four 
different  aspects  in  which  the  evangelists  viewed  the  his- 
torical Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  fulfillment  of  the  divine 
promise  of  old,  the  Messiah  of  Israel,  and  the  Saviour  of 
men."  *  This  has  been  the  belief  of  the  Church  since  the 
days  of  Irenaeus,  whose  "comparison  of  the  four  Gos- 
pels to  the  four  living  creatures  mentioned  in  the  Apoc- 
alypse "  f  is  well  known.  The  Gospels  are  not  memora- 
bilia, not  memoirs.  They  are  a  fourfold  disclosure  of  the 
character  of  Jesus — fourfold,  shall  we  say,  that  our  single 
conception  may  be  complete  ?  But  this  Jesus  is  Himself 
the  fulfillment  of  the  law,  its  filling  out.  "  Think  not 
that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,"  the  Pentateuch.  "  I 
am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill ";  to  fulfill,  shall  we 
understand  not  alone  in  what  He  said,  but  more  strikingly 
in  what  He  was  ?  The  law  was  symbol,  He  was  reality. 
As  John  writes :  "  The  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace 


* Pref.  ad  init.  t  Ellicott's  "Life  of  Christ,"  pp.  31,  32. 


34        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ."  The  double  antithesis 
in  this  sentence  is  instructive.  Law  is  contrasted  with 
truth.  Then  the  law  is  not  truth,  it  is  the  symbol  of  it. 
Again,  the  law  was  "  given,"  but  the  truth  "  came  "- 
came  to  be  by  Jesus  Christ,  who  says  elsewhere  :  "  I  am 
the  truth."  He  embodied  it  in  His  person,  character,  and 
life. 

The  question  now  comes  to  this :  The  Gospels  being  a 
portraiture  of  Christ — one  homogeneous  character  stereo- 
scoped,  if  we  may  so  speak,  from  the  four  varying  pic- 
tures— in  what  relation  does  He  stand  to  Moses,  or  Moses 
to  Him?  How  does  He  fulfill?  He  Himself  said: 
"  Moses  wrote  of  me."  How  ?  Incidentally  mentioning 
Him  prophetically  here  and  there,  dropping  symbols  of 
Him  now  and  then  ;  or,  when  He  says,  "  Moses  wrote  of 
me,"  does  He  speak  comprehensively,  intending  to  say 
Moses  wrote  of  nothing  else — that  the  outline  and  sub- 
stance of  the  Pentateuch  are  wholly  about  Christ  ?  This 
is  a  question  that  only  a  volume  can  answer.  And  no 
volume  satisfactorily  considers  it.  The  Pentateuch  has 
not  yet  received  its  profoundest  study.  When  it  is  no 
longer  considered  merely  as  history,  but  also  as  Gospel,  a 
shadow  of  the  truth,  light  will  begin, to  break  forth.  It 
does  relate  most  intimately  to  Christ.  "  A  righteousness 
of  God  hath  been  manifested  " — in  Jesus  Christ — "  being 
witnessed  by  the  law." 

Dr.  Alfred  Cave,  speaking  of  the  difficulties  presented 
to  a  devout  mind  by  the  Old  Testament  symbols,  goes  on 
as  follows :  u  But  immediately  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
theories  are  compared,  these  stumbling-blocks  are  the  very 
things  which  prove  most  conclusively  the  fact  of  a  com- 
mon architect.  The  priesthood  has  its  rationale  in  the 
'priest  forever,'  the  tabernacle  in  the  incarnation,  the 
atonement  by  blood,  in  Calvary,  the  non-dissected  feast  in 
the  great  Paschal  Lamb,  the  passover  in  the  daily  appro- 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTA  TEUCH.       35 

priation  of  the  merits  of  a  crucified  Jesus,  the  Feast  of 
Ingathering  in  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles  in  the  rejoicing  of  the  saints  through  Christ. 
And  these  resemblances,  which  must  have  been  pre- 
ordained, are  innumerable."  *  A  connection  of  this  sort 
between  the  old  covenant  and  the  new  must  be  admitted. 

But  what  is  lacking  here,  and  what  nothing  but  the  pro- 
found and  devout  study  of  the  most  evangelic  mind  can 
hope  to  find,  is  the  kind  of  relation  between  the  two,  the 
comprehensive  principle  underlying  the  Pentateuch  that 
explains  its  form  and  substance,  and  accounts  for  these 
"  resemblances  which  are  innumerable." 

When  such  a  relation  of  subject  and  substance  is  once 
sufficiently  clear,  two  beneficent  results  immediately  ap- 
pear :  First,  in  the  line  of  apologetics.  The  attack  upon 
the  Old  Testament  to-day  is  critical.  It  is  not  rational- 
istic or  mythical.  It  takes  up  the  Books  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, examines  and  compares  their  contents,  and  at- 
tempts to  condemn  them  on  their  own  showing.  Kuenen 
strives  to  prove  that  the  Pentateuch  was  written  by  the 
Jewish  priests,  about  the  time  of  the  return  from  the  exile 
— not  all  at  once,  of  course,  but  that  it  reached  its  final 
form  at  this  date ;  that  the  object  was  to  secure  their  own 
office  as  priests  of  the  nation ;  that  Deuteronomy  was 
written  first,  Genesis  last,  and  the  rest  meantime.  The 
priests  had  already  gained  such  a  place  in  the  political 
and  religious  life  of  the  nation  at  the  time  of  its  return 
from  the  exile  that  they  could  perpetrate  this  fraud  suc- 
cessfully. For  effect,  the  whole  was  ascribed  to  Moses,  who, 
many  years  before,  had  led  their  ancestors  in  a  migration  ; 
who  had  given  them  some  rudimentary  precepts,  now 
wrought  out  in  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  some 
method  of  sacrifice,  and  who  had  a  traditionary  reputa- 


*  Princeton  Review  for  1879,  Vol.  I.,  page  614. 


36        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENT  A  TEUCH. 

tion.  ]N~ow  this  theory  is  not  unreasonable.  It  is  appar- 
ently supported  by  many  facts,  cited  by  its  earnest  advo- 
cates from  the  Old  Testament  itself.  These  citations  are 
being  reweighed.  The  higher  criticism  will  be  confronted 
with  its  own  methods. 

It  is  shown  already  that  the  date  fixed  for  the  composi- 
tion is  untenable.  The  Samaritans  have  a  Pentateuch. 
Where  did  they  obtain  it  ?  The  enmity  between  them  and 
the  Jews  arose  about  this  time.  If  they  did  not  possess 
this  long  before  this  date,  they  never  would  have  accepted 
it  from  the  Jews  afterward.*  But  there  is  a  quicker  and 
no  less  effective  way  to  meet  these  theories.  The  Mor- 
mon elders  to-day  might  write  a  fivefold  book  as  the 
documentary  source  of  their  entire  religious  and  domestic 
system.  For  effect,  they  might  ascribe  it  to  Solomon,  who 
worshipped  in  a  temple  and  had  numerous  wives,  and, 
however  absurd,  the  people  might  be  persuaded  to  accept 
it  as  a  revelation  from  God,  because  it  explained  in  large 
measure  their  system. 

Such  a  book  might  be  embellished  with  numerous  cases 
of  prophecy  and  accounts  of  subsequent  fulfillment 
adorned  with  miracle  and  with  many  instances  of  provi- 
dential interference.  Even  incongruities,  absurdities,  and 
immoralities  might  find  place  in  its  pages,  which  a  rude, 
uncritical  age  and  people  would  not  detect. 

It  would  pass  down  the  Mormon  national  current  for 
five  hundred  years,  its  credibility  constantly  increasing  in 
the  flow  of  time  until  some  learned  Kuenen  skilled  in 
criticism  should  finally  lay  bare  its  fraudulent  origin  and 
its  contradictory  character.  Such  a  book  might  be  written 
in  such  a  way.  The  case  is  supposable. 

But  what  now,  if  at  the  end  of  this  time  a  man  should 


*  "Kecent  Theories  of  the  Pentateuch,"  British  Quarterly, 
January,  1884. 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTA  TEUCH.       37 

arise,  unique  in  character,  holy  in  life  and  purpose,  so  like 
and  yet  so  unlike  men,  that  they  could  not  decide  whether 
he  was  human  or  divine ;  and  what  now,  also,  if  it  were 
found  that  this  very  Mormon  book  was  the  only  book  that 
described  and  predicted  this  man :  that  all  contradictions, 
stories,  rites,  and  laws  met  in  that  good  man  in  a  harmony 
like  that  which  exists  only  between  cipher  and  key,  so  that 
his  life  made  the  book  significant  ?  This  case  is  not  sup- 
posable.  A  book  so  written  could  not  anticipate  a  life  so 
lived.  And  yet  this  is  substantially  what  Kuenen  has 
supposed.  His  theory,  swathed  with  vast  learning,  de- 
mands the  belief  that  the  post-exilian  "  sopherim,"  to  use 
the  half  contemptuous  word  of  Rev.  S.  Baring-Gould,* 
palmed  a  fraud  upon  the  Jews  of  their  age — a  fraud  that 
turns  out  a  few  centuries  later  to  be  a  marvelously  exact 
pre-delineation  of  -the  Messiah,  that  a  book  whose  source 
and  substance  are  fraud,  was  fulfilled  by  a  person  whose 
every  deed,  and  thought,  and  breath  was  holy.  Now  es- 
tablish the  relation  between  Moses  and  the  Gospels,  and 
the  theories  of  the  rationalistic,  of  the  mythical,  and  of  the 
critical  schools  fall — mole  ruit  sua — never  to  rise.  That 
fraudulent  priests  should  prove  to  be  most  famous  prophets 
— this,  man  cannot  be  persuaded  to  believe.  Indeed,  the 
continuity  between  the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible  and 
the  four  Gospels  is  already  so  apparent  in  so  many  points 
as  to  furnish  a  sufficient  argument  against  the  critical 
theory.  The  "  charcoal  sketch  "  in  the  Pentateuch  is  so 
exactly  like  the  divine  portrait  in  the  Gospels,  that  candor 
readily  admits  that  but  one  mind  conceived  both,  and  but 
one  hand  drew  both. 

But,  secondly,  the  adequate  unfolding  of  the  relation 
between  Moses  and  the  Gospels  has  vast  horniletic  value. 
To  establish  that  relation  will  give  authority  to  the  types 


''Some  Modern  Difficulties,"  page  106. 


38        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

and  symbols  of  the  Pentateuch.  The  marrow,  the  very 
soul  of  the  Gospel,  is  in  them. 

It  is  there  as  it  is  nowhere  else.  There  is  a  vast  deal 
there  that  is  nowhere  else.  But  these  types  are  distrusted, 
and  their  authority  questioned  until  their  vital  connection 
with  Christ  is  admitted,  until  it  is  seen  that  He  is  in  them 
and  they  in  Him. 

The  disciples  could  make  nothing  of  the  parable  :  "  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  who  sowed  good 
seed  in  his  field,  but  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and 
sowed  tares" — the  disciples  could  make  nothing  of  any  of 
this  until  He  identified  the  terms  of  the  parable :  "  He 
that  sowed  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of  man ;  the  field  is 
the  world,  the  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the  kingdom," 
etc.  What  authority  could  the  parable  have  had  until  He 
set  its  bounds  ?  It  left  us  on  a  trackless  ocean  without 
star  or  compass.  And  so  it  is  with  the  types,  symbols,  and 
ceremonies  of  Moses.  Uncertainty  allows  them  to  grow 
effete,  but  when  their  vital  and  exact  relation  to  the  Gos- 
pel is  discovered,  they  become  authoritative  and  widely 
instructive. 

It  is  hazarding  little  to  say  that  there  is  vastly  more 
Gospel  in  Moses  than  in  the  Gospels.  The  soul  of  the 
Gospel  is  divine  atonement  for  sin.  How  little  of  atone- 
ment we  have  in  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John.  How 
very,  very  much  of  it  symbolically  in  Moses !  Now,  be- 
sides all  else  that  our  adorable  Lord  is,  He  is  certainly  the 
key  to  Moses.  "  I  came  to  fulfill,"  He  said. 

He  Himself  directs  us  to  Moses  to  learn  of  Himself. 
The  key  is  the  vital  thing  for  admission  to  the  treasure- 
house,  but  it  is  not  the  house.  The  Gospels  give  admis- 
sion to  the  Pentateuch,  which  is  rich  in  Gospel  stores. 

There  would  have  been  no  Gospel  in  the  lily's  spotless 
white,  if  Jesus  had  not  pointed  to  it  as  the  work  of  God. 
But  now  the  flowers  of  the  field  bloom  fragrant  with 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.        39 

truth.  We  could  have  seen  no  Gospel,  either  in  the  fall- 
ing or  the  feeding  sparrow,  if  Jesus  had  not  indicated  it. 
And  now  all  this  lesson  is  there  as  it  is  nowhere  else.  We 
might  never  have  dreamed  that  there  is  Gospel  in  the 
constitution  of  the  family.  But  now  every  pulse  of  pa- 
rental affection  says — it  cannot  possibly  be  so  said  by  any 
other  voice — "  If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  to  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask 
Him  ? "  And  now,  just  so  when  Christ  is  seen  linked  with 
these  Old  Testament  symbols — a  rejected  Joseph,  a  curious 
tabernacle,  a  bleeding  or  a  burning  ox,  a  goat  led  into  the 
wilderness,  and  all  the  rest  of  which  there  is  so  much — 
they  come  to  us  in  as  authoritative  lessons  as  the  flowers 
of  the  field  or  the  fowls  of  the  heavens,  and  like  them 
preach  as  no  other  voice  can  or  does. 

The  irreverence  and,  perhaps,  the  aim  of  the  higher 
criticism  must  be  deprecated  as  it  is  at  present  behaving. 
But  in  the  end,  a  devout  exegesis  will  find  itself  greatly 
indebted  to  it.  It  was  the  enemy  who  taught  Israel  of 
old  the  glory  and  comfort  of  their  own  monotheistic,  non- 
idolatrous  code  politically;  and  perhaps  the  enemy  is 
again  divinely  intended  to  teach  us  the  value  of  the  doc- 
uments of  that  same  code  theologically.  And  when  that 
value  is  ascertained,  and  the  relation  between  the  old  cov- 
enant and  the  new  broadly  established,  the  Pentateuch 
will  no  longer  be  called  an  effete  book,  nor  will  it  be  sup- 
posed to  be  so  inferior  to  the  Gospels.  They  are  not 
related  as  new  and  old,  not  even  as  fountain  and  broad 
flowing  stream,  but  rather  as  material  and  model.  When 
the  Israelite  in  the  wilderness  saw  the  accumulating  piles 
of  material  that  finally  went  into  the  erection  of  his  tab- 
ernacle, what  could  he  make  of  that  unorganized  mass  \ 
With  both  boards  and  curtains  it  was  stuff  for  neither  a 
house  nor  a  tent.  But  to  Moses,  who  had  seen  the  pattern 


40        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

in  the  mount,  that  pattern  explained  every  curtain  and 
board,  every  nail  and  rod,  every  loop  and  tach,  while  yet 
lying  in  a  disorderly  heap.  The  Gospels  are  to  the  law 
what  that  pattern  was  to  the  material  intended  to  re- 
alize it.  The  Gospel  becomes  a  complete  temple  of  wor- 
ship when  it  is  erected  with  all  the  material  furnished  by 
the  law. 

III.  The  Gospels  and  the  Law  are  related  by  means  of 
direct  quotation  and  reference.  According  to  Turpie* 
there  are  just  one  hundred  quotations  in  the  Gospels  from 
the  Old  Testament,  thirty-eight  of  which,  or  twelve  less 
than  one-half,  are  from  the  Pentateuch.  The  greater 
number  of  these  are  made,  or  commented  on,  by  Jesus 
himself.  Besides  these  quotations  there  are  about  forty 
allusions  or  references,  more  or  less  direct,  in  the  Gospels 
to  the  Pentateuch — about  forty,  if  the  list  in  Davidson's 
"Hermeneutics"  f  was  correctly  counted.  These  quotations 
have  provoked  much  study,  and  have  given  rise  to  more 
than  one  learned  volume,  the  latest  of  which  is  by  Craw- 
ford Ho  well  Toy,  professor  in  Harvard  University. 

The  discussion  of  this  particular  relation  between  the 
New  Testament  and  the  Old  brings  us  again  face  to  face 
with  Jesus. 

What  is  His  authority  as  an  interpreter  of  the  Penta- 
teuch ?  Or,  if  we  are  to  meet  the  Neologians,  what  is  His 
ability  in  interpretation  ?  Some  would  hesitate  to  bring 
Jesus  into  this  controversy  at  all. 

Dr.  George  T.  Ladd,  of  Yale  College,  in  his  recently 
published  work,  \  warns  against  what  he  calls  "  the  peril- 
ous venture  of  committing  the  honesty  and  competency 
of  Christ  to  every  detail  of  the  contents  "  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. It  is  a  greater  peril  to  refuse  to  call  the  most 


*  "  The  New  Testament  View  of  the  Old. "  f  Page  510. 

\  "The  Doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,"  page  34. 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.       41 

competent  witness.  Any  honest  reader  of  the  Gospels 
must  admit  that  He  did  in  some  sense  indorse  Moses. 

There  is  a  peril,  however,  and  it  is  a  great  one,  in  com- 
mitting Him  to  our  view,  of  the  teaching  of  either  Testa- 
ment. It  lurks  in  a  lazy  assumption  that  He  has  done  for 
us  what  evidently  He  intended  we  should  do  for  ourselves 
by  earnest  study  and  the  cultivation  of  a  devout  spiritual 
insight.  He  came,  not  to  interpret  in  detail,  or  at  all. 
All  that  He  did  do  in  this  field  is  purely  incidental. 
He  came  to  fulfill  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  It 
is  ours  to  interpret  and  to  show  the  profound  'meaning 
and  measure  of  that  fulfillment.  But  how  is  that  to  be 
done  without  bringing  Him  into  this  question?  And 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  inexpediency  of  com- 
mitting Jesus  on  this  point,  we  have  no  choice  left.  He 
comes  in  necessarily.  He  was  long  ago  brought  in.  Loy- 
alty to  Him  will  not  call  it  inexpedient  to  defend  Him 
when  assailed. 

Either  to  avoid  or  to  preserve  the  divine  authority,  but 
more  likely  because  Jesus'  words  crossed  his  views,  John 
Solomon  Semler,  professor  in  Halle,  gave  currency  more 
than  a  century  ago  (he  died  in  1797)  to  the  so-called  "Ac- 
commodation Theory."  *  Although  the  theory  is  gener- 
ally assigned  to  Semler,  he  did  not  invent  it.  "  It  was  a 
favorite,"  says  Alexander,  of  the  followers  of  Des  Cartes 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Its  complex- 
ion would  suggest  an  origin  still  nearer  the  dark  ages. 

This  "  impious  theory  "  long  ago  brought  Jesus  face  to 
face  with  this  question.  It  is  not  a  "  favorite,"  however, 
of  living  Neologians,  as  may  be  seen  in  Professor  Toy's 
book,  who  nevertheless  is  confronted  by  Jesus  and  seeks 


*  See  W.  L.  Alexander's  ' '  Connection  and  Harmony  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments, "  page  148;  and  Davidson's  "Herme- 
neutics,"  page  G94. 


42        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

to  nullify  His  testimony  thus  :  "  We  must  compare  them 
(the  quotations)  with  the  original  passages,  interpreted  ac- 
cording to  what  we  hold  to  be  the  best  canons  of  herme- 
neutical  science.  The  comparison  must  be  made  with  all 
caution,  humility,  and  reverence,  but  the  science  of  her- 
meneutics  must  be  the  final  authority,  even  if  it  should 
seem  to  us  to  come  in  conflict  with  Him As  an  in- 
dividual man,  He  had  of  necessity  a  definite,  restricted,  in- 
tellectual outfit  and  outlook,  and  these  could  be  only  those 

of  His  day  and  generation ^.s  teacher  of  spiritual 

truth  sent  from  God  and  full  of  God,  He  is  universal ;  as 
logician  and  critic,  He  belongs  to  His  times."  * 

In  the  same  strain  Rothe  declares :  "  The  Redeemer 
never  claimed  to  be  an  infallible  or  even  a  generally  pre- 
cise interpreter  of  the  Old  Testament.  Indeed,  He  could 
not  have  made  this  claim ;  for  interpretation  is  essentially 
a  scientific  function,  and  one  conditioned  by  the  existence 
of  scientific  means,  which,  in  relation  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, were  only  imperfectly  at  the  command  of  Jesus,  as 
well  as  of  His  contemporaries."  f  All  of  which  would  be 
ridiculous,  if  it  were  not  so  offensive  in  its  self-conceit, 
viz. :  that  Jesus,  Son  of  God,  was  not  as  competent  to 
judge  of  the  truthfulness  of  words  which  He  quoted  from 
the  Old  Testament  as  are  Drs.  Toy  and  Rothe,  because, 
forsooth,  He  had  not  the  "scientific  means"  which 
are  in  the  hands  of  His  critics  in  Harvard  University 
and  Gotha.  How  much  He  might  have  learned  from 
an  adequate  modern  library !  The  bald  accommodation 
theory  would  rob  Jesus  of  His  moral  character.  The 
critical  theory  would  steal  His  credentials  as  an  ac- 
credited teacher  from  God,  eclipse  His  divinity,  shackle 


"Quotations  in  the  New  Testament,"  pp.  28,  29. 
t  Quoted  from  Zur  Dogmatik,  Gotha,  18G3,  in  Ladd's  "Doc. 
of  Sacred  Scriptures,"  p.  28. 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.       43 

and  limit  Him  by  the  narrow  critical  knowledge  of  His 
time,  and  make  Him  so  far  but  a  poor  human  scribe,  vastly 
more  incapable  of  telling  what  was  true  or  false  in  the 
book  He  so  often  quoted,  than  are  these  men  so  learned  in 
hermeneutical  science.  While  Athanasius,  Balthazer  Hub- 
meyer,  Koger  Williams,  and  hundreds  of  others  could  be 
in  sharpest  antithesis  with  the  current  of  interpretation 
about  them,  standing  like  rocks  against  it,  Jesus  "  belongs 
to  His  own  times  ";  the  feeble  creation  of  His  age  !  May 
grace  not  fail  where  there  is  such  sore  need  of  patience. 
He  who  said,  "Moses  wrote  of  me";  He  who  said,  "  Not 
one  jot  or  tittle  shall  pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  ful- 
filled ";  He  who  said,  "  Had  ye  believed  Moses  ye  would 
have  believed  me ";  He  who  said,  "  If  ye  believe  not  his 
writings,  how  shall  ye  believe  my  words  ? "  He  is  to  be 
distrusted  in  all  this,  although  He  also  solemnly  declared : 
"  Even  as  the  Father  said  unto  me,  so  I  speak."  He 
averred  :  "  The.  word  which  ye  hear  is  not  mine,  but  the 
Father's  which  sent  me."  And  one  cannot  help  asking, 
though  the  question  may  belong  only  to  the  realm  of  a 
prayer-meeting,  What  is  that  conception  of  the  ineffable, 
adorable  Son  of  the  Father — of  Him  who  said,  "  He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father"?  what  is  the  con- 
ception of  Him  when  men  virtually  say  He  quoted  the 
Scriptures  in  as  much  ignorance  as  the  scribe  of  His  day? 
Hermeneutical  science  is  invaluable  in  interpretation.  But 
a  little  religion  does  not  come  amiss  either,  the  reverence 
which,  in  heart-broken  penitence  for  blinding,  misleading 
sin,  owns  before  Him  that  "the  foolishness  of  God  is 
wiser  than  men." 

Dr.  Ladd  says :  "A  quasi  ethical  preparation  is  an  in- 
dispensable requirement,"  when  men  are  about  to  ask, 
"What  did  Christ  teach  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  \  "  Ah,  it  must  be  more  than  quasi 
ethical.  It  must  have  more  than  "  caution,  humility,  and 


4A        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

reverence."  It  must  be  deeply  inter-shot  and  informed 
by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Says  Prof.  C.  A.  Briggs  2 
"  Through  the  avenues  of  Scripture  we  go  to  find  Christ 
—in  their  centre  we  find  our  Saviour.  It  is  this  personal 
relation  of  the  Author  of  the  entire  Scripture  to  the  in- 
terpreter that  enables  him  truly  to  understand  the  divine 
things  of  the  Scripture.  Jesus  Christ  know  the  Old 
Testament  and  interpreted  it  as  one  who  knew  the  mind 
of  God.  He  needed  no  helps  to  climb  the  pyramids  of 
interpretation.  He  was  born  and  ever  lived  at  the  sum- 
mit." *  In  the  same  strain  he  declares :  "  The  doctrine 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  supreme  interpreter  of  Scrip- 
ture is  the  highest  attainment  of  interpretation."  It  is 
unquestionably  true  that  piety  will  not  answer  for  a  lack 
of  the  knowledge  of  Greek.  Prayer  cannot  take  the 
place  of  an  acquaintance  with  Hebrew.  But  piety  and 
prayer  will  give  a  vastly  better  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
than  any  one  can  attain  through  hermeneutical  science 
without  these.  "  I  thank  Thee,  Father,  Lord  of  heaven 
and  earth,  because  Thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the 
wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes  " 
(Mat.  xi.  25). 

The  chief  thing  to  be  noticed  in  the  quotations  is  that 
they  are  frequently  transferred  in  words,  sometimes  even 
in  a  sense  foreign  to  the  original.  They  are  not  often 
made,  with  verbal  exactness. 

The  prophet  represents  the  Lord  as  saying :  "  I  will 
send  my  messenger  before  me."  This  is  quoted  :  "  I  send 
my  messenger  before  thee."  l!s~ow  reduce  all  the  Bible 
penmen  to  mere  scribes,  insist  that  these  books  must  be 
interpreted  just  as  other  books  are,  and  this  feature  of 
quotation  cannot  be  explained.  Professor  Toy  says  em- 
phatically :  "  The  Old  Testament  is  to  be  made  its  own 


*  "Biblical  Study  "  (1883),  page  364. 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTA  TEUCH.       45 

interpreter."  He  says  the  prophet  writes  with  no  vague- 
ness. He  has  in  mind  a  definite  picture,  and  "  describes 
it  in  clear  words."  *  Of  course  the  New  Testament  is  to 
be  interpreted  in  the  same  fashion.  But.  now,  if  quota- 
tions are  not  brought  in  their  contextual  sense  and  in  their 
own  words  from  one  Testament  to  the  other,  the  science 
of  hermeneutics  must  protest,  and  he  who  made  the  quo- 
tation must  be  regarded  as  the  victim  of  his  times,  con- 
ditioned and  limited  by  rabbinic  exegesis.  Professor 
Toy's  method  defeats  itself.  He  seems  to  protest 
against  a  mechanical  fulfillment  of  particular  predictions, 
but  when  he  takes  these  up  as  quotations  he  seems  to  find 
fault  because  they  are  not  mechanically  transferred.  Her- 
meneutics can  never  compass  the  movements  of  that  liv- 
ing Spirit  which  breathes  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
in  the  New,  who  transfers  His  own  words  from  one  to 
another  in  a  way  that  shows  He  is  a  vital  power  and  not  a 
dead  something.  The  Spirit  is  the  author  of  the  Penta- 
teuch. It  is  not  Moses.  Any  Sunday-school  teacher  can 
show  that  Jesus  used  His  own  words,  the  very  same  words 
now  in  this  sense,  now  in  that,  and  again  in  a  third,  f  and 
cannot  any  living  spirit  do  the  same?  Has  the  Holy 
Spirit  no  ability  to  show  what  He  does  mean  by  His  ut- 
terances ?  Can  He  use  words  but  in  one  way  and  in  one 
sense  ?  Suppose  that  He  of  whom  it  is  said  in  the  Gos- 
pels, "  I  send  my  messenger  before  thee,"  was  the  very 
one  who  said  it  in  Malachi.  Suppose  that  he  who  quoted 
had  a  distinct  consciousness  of  this  and  wished  to  identify 
the  two,  would  not  that  account  for  the  change  in  the 
pronoun,  and  make  it  strikingly  significant?  The  very 
fact  that  the  quotations  in  the  Gospels  are  independent 
and  free,  following  sometimes  neither  the  letter  nor  the 


*  "  Quotations,"  page  xxvi. 

t  e.  g.,  Matthew  vii.  2;  Mark  iv.  24;  Luke  vi.  38. 


46        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

sense  of  the  original  context,  is  a  substantial  proof  that 
they  who  quote  are  independent — not  bound  to  the  letter 
as  were  the  scribes,  but  men  with  living  authority  equal  to 
them  who  wrote  the  Old  Testament.  The  evangelists 
were  not  slavish  copyists,  but  original  writers,  with  minds 
moved  and  informed  by  God's  Spirit. 

"But,"  says  the  Biblical  critic,  "this  is  the  question  at 
issue  :  were  any  of  these  men  inspired  ?  Criticism  must 
settle  that  question."  It  cannot.  It  might  as  well  at- 
tempt to  measure  the  heat  of  the  sun  with  a  tape-line. 
The  thing  is  not  adapted.  The  form  and  fashion  of  the 
tabernacle  were  inspired.  But  who  would  think  either  of 
proving  or  disproving  it  by  thev  science  of  modern  archi- 
tecture? Noah's  ark  was  created  in  obedience  to  in- 
spiration. Can  nautical  science  prove  or  disprove  it  ? 

God's  words  do  not  whisper  their  secret  to  science. 
When  He,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  He  will  guide  you. 
God  interprets  His  own  Word.  It  does  not  interpret  it- 
self. God's  words  are  spirit  and  life,  and  the  critical  scal- 
pel has  no  function  until  life  has  ceased. 

And  now  since  Jesus  "  taught  as  one  having  authority, 
and  not  as  the  scribes";  since,  as  Professor  Briggs  says, 
"  Jesus  Christ  knew  the  Old  Testament  and  interpreted  it 
as  one  who  knew  the  mind  of  God,"  His  quotations  from 
it  are  worthy  of  the  profoundest  regard.  To  be  sure,  He 
never  professed  to  be  a  textual  critic.  He  accepted  and 
taught  the  Pentateuch  as  He  found  it.  But  His  frequent 
quotations  from  and  references  to  it,  show  His  estimate  of 
its  value  and  trustworthiness.  The}^  come  to  Him  with 
the  question :  "  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his 
wife  for  every  cause?"  declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that 
Moses  suffered  to  write  a  bill  of  divorcement  and  to  put 
her  away.  "And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them: 
For  the  hardness  of  your  heart  He  wrote  you  this  pre- 
cept, but  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation  God  made 


THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.       47 

them  male  and  female.  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave 
his  father  and  mother  and  cleave  to  his  wife,  and  they 
twain  shall  be  one  flesh.  What,  therefore,  God  hath  joined 
together  let  not  man  put  asunder."  Now  here  are  a 
number  of  things  said  directly  and  implicitly.  First,  Je- 
sus says  Moses  wrote  the  precept  of  divorce.  Again,  He 
says  God  made  them  male  and  female  from  the  beginning 
of  the  creation,  which  implicitly  declares  that  He  made 
the  first  pair,  indorsing  thus  the  Mosaic  story  of  the  crea- 
tion of  Adam  and  Eve.  He  implies  also  that  they  were 
the  "  beginning  "  of  His  creation  of  men.  His  method  of 
intrepretation  is  also  indicated,  that  specified  creation  is 
also  legislation,  that  what  God  does,  interprets  what  He 
says.  Now,  Jesus  has  not  said  that  the  first  and  the 
second  chapters  of  Genesis  are  inspired,  but  He  both  re- 
fers to  and  quotes  them  as  indicative  of  the  divine  will 
'on  one  of  the  most  momentous  of  ethical  questions.  If 
.  He  used  them  as  an  embodiment  of  the  divine  will,  we 
may.  If  He  calls  that  story  the  beginning  of  creation,  it 
is  safe  to  deny  that  there  were  pre-Adamites.  If  He 
quoted  Genesis  as  the  divine  reason  for  monogamy,  we 
may.  If  that  story  of  the  institution  of  the  marriage  re- 
lation is  not  true,  if  it  had  no  existence  before  the  days  of 
Ezra's  scribes,  there  is  no  divine  authority  for  monogamy ; 
Jesus  gave  no  other  ground  for  that  authority  than  the  ac- 
count which  Moses  writes. 

In  Mark  we  have  a  quotation  from  Exodus  xx.  12  and 
xxi.  16,  introduced  by  the  word  Moses.  Moses  said  : 
"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  and  whosoever  curseth 
father  or  mother  let  him  die  the  death."  But  Matthew 
(xv.  3),  in  reporting  this  same  occurrence,  represents 
Jesus  as  saying:  "For  God  commanded,  saying,  Honor 
thy  father,"  etc.  What  one  ascribes  to  Moses,  the  other 
ascribes  to  God.  No  doubt  Jesus  used  both  introductions 
to  the  quotation,  of  which  Matthew  selects  one  and  Mark 


48        THE  GOSPELS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

the  other.  But  this  need  not  be  pressed.  If  we  had  Mat- 
thew alone,  it  would  be  equally  apparent  that  Jesus  gave 
divine  authority  to  Moses'  words. 

What  a  marvelous  story  is  that  of  the  destruction  of 
the  cities  of  the  plain.  And  to  what  else  does  Jesus  refer 
when  He  says :  "  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  in 
the  day  of  judgment  than  for  thee'?  (Capernaum)?  To 
what  else  does  He  allude  when  He  warns  believers,  "  Re- 
member Lot's  wife  "  ?  He  who  could  speak  confidently  of 
the  future,  the  judgment,  was  probably  textual  critic  suffi- 
cient to  assure  us  that  this  story  d?d  not  arise  as  Kuenen 
suggests. 

They  came  to  Him  with  a  perplexing  question  about 
the  resurrection.  A  woman  had  outlived  seven  successive 
husbands.  In  the  resurrection  whose  wife  should  she  be  ? 
And  what  is  His  answer  ?  "  Now  that  the  dead  are  raised, 
even  Moses  showed  at  the  bush  when  he  called  the  Lord 
the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of 
Jacob."  Here  Moses  is  quoted  as  an  authority  on  the 
question.  Mark's  account  reads:  "And  as  touching  the 
dead  that  they  rise,  have  ye  not  read  in  the  book  of  Moses 
how  in  the  bush  God  spake  unto  him,  saying :  I  am  the 
God  of  Abraham  and  the  God  of  Isaac  and  the  God  of 
Jacob  ? "  Here,  again,  what  is  credited  to  Moses  in  one 
place  is  ascribed  to  God  in  another.  Several  other  points 
are  noteworthy — one  approaching,  incidentally  of  course, 
textual  criticism.  First,  he  indorses  the  curious  story  of 
the  theophany  in  the  bush.  Secondly,  he  confirms  the 
chronological  order  of  these  characters  in  the  Pentateuch 
— Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Moses.  Thirdly,  he  ascribes  the 
Pentateuch  to  the  Lawgiver,  "Have  ye  not  read  in  the 
book  of  Moses  ? " 

It  is  needless  to  enlarge  on  other  quotations.  No  one 
can  fail  to  remember  how  He  Himself,  "  beginning  at 
Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  expounded  to  them  in  all  the 


THE  GOSP&LS  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.       49 

Scriptures  the  things  concerning  Himself";  how  He  de- 
clared, "  As  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noah,  so  shall  it  be  in 
the  days  of  the  Son  of  man "  (if  the  higher  criticism  is 
correct,  candor  must  have  compelled  Him  to  say  here,  "As 
it  is  reputed  to  have  been  in  the  alleged  days  of  Noah  ") ; 
how  He  said,  "  One  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass 
from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled";  how  in  His  dying 
agony  He  confessed  His  thirst,  that  these  same  Scriptures 
on  this  point  might  be  fulfilled.  He  may  have  paid  no 
attention  to  criticism,  but  with  all  these  allusions  of  His 
from  the  beginning  of  the  divine  story  on  through,  touch- 
ing so  many  chapters,  indorsing  Moses  not  only  in  general, 
but  in  numerous  particulars,  it  is  safe  to  use  His  own 
words  against  His  critics :  The  Scriptures  cannot  be 
broken.  "  Hengstenberg,"  says  Alfred  Cave,*  "  made  a 
collection  of  incidental  declarations  in  which  his  oppo- 
nents betrayed  or  confessed  that  their  piece  de  resistance 
was  an  initial  disaffection  toward  the  supernatural.  It 
was  a  bold  stroke,  and  one  requiring  some  courage,  to 
charge  their  unbelief  with  their  opposition.  Christian 
faith  does  not  circumscribe  the  activity  of  God  by  the 
operations  of  natural  law.  A  spiritual  realm  moves  and 
molds,  and  sometimes  breaks  through  the  natural.  Let 
men  believe  first  in  the  present,  living  God.  Those  who 
have  felt  the  quickening  thrill  of  His  nearness,  who  have 
been  humbled  in  heart  and  intellect  under  the  hourly 
sense  of  His  gracious  forgiveness  of  their  sins,  will  not 
find  the  difficulties  in  His  "Word  discovered  by  cold  study, 
animated  only  by  "  Zeitgeist "  rather  than  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  will  not  stumble  at  the  supernatural  who  has 
thus  experienced  it  in  his  own  soul,  in  whose  conscious- 
ness it  is  a  daily  reality. 


*  Princeton  Review,  May,  1879,  page  593. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO 
ITSELF. 

GEORGE    S.    BISHOP,    D.D. 

THE  Bible  is  the  very  handwriting  of  God  !  Suppose 
I  believe  that.  Suppose,  instead  of  Luke  and  John  and 
Paul  and  Peter,  I  behold  in  overawed  imagination  "  God 
grasping  the  pen  "  and  setting  down  the  sentences,  the 
words,  the  jots  and  tittles — every  stroke  of  it ;  does  riot 
that  fix  me  ?  does  not  that  arrest  me  ?  does  not  that  de- 
termine, shape,  and  mould  me,  as  no  conviction  other, 
lesser,  can? 

That  is  the  Anchor  to  which,  by  twisting  a  few  honest 
strands,  I  would  help,  if  I  may,  to  rebind  our  cables. 
When  we  were  resting  quietly  inside  of  Sandy  Hodk, 
our  own  ship  and  others  swung  round  with  the  tide,  but 
none  changed  its  place,  for  all  were  well  anchored.  The 
ships  of  sentiment  are  swinging  loose  to-day,  and  with  the 
counter  tide.  That  has  been,  and  it  will  be,  again  and 
again,  so  long  as  human  opinion  is  the  vacillating  and 
uncertain  thing  it  is.  But  we  need  not  fear,  for  the  old 
anchor  holds  as  firm,  as  steady,  as  inflexible  as  ever. 
That  anchor — back  of  all  departures,  heresies,  and  fluc- 
tuations— is  the  literal,  direct,  Divine  inspiration,  on  the 
original  parchments,  of  the  Word  of  God. 

We  cannot  consent  to  see  in  the  Bible  the  pens  nor  the 
penmen  ;  but,  undistractedly,  the  Master  Intellect,  which 
everywhere  directs  each  thought.  We  must  maintain 
with  Justin  Martyr,  with  Chrysostom,  and  with  Theophi- 
lus  of  Antioch,  the  illustration  of  that  "  harp"  on  whicji 
(50) 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  51 

the  Spirit  breathes,  "  the  strings  of  which  He  touches  to 
evoke  each  vital  tone."  We  must  "adore"  with  Athe-. 
nagoras  "  the  Being  who  has  harmonized  the  strains,  who 
leads  the  melody,  and  not  the  instrument  on  which  He 
plays.  What  umpire  at  the  Games,"  he  cries,  u  omits  the 
Minstrel  while  he  crowns  the  lyre  ?  " 

The  mistake  of  moderns,  and  especially  of  recent  mod- 
erns, has  been  "  crowning  the  lyre."  The  whole  ques- 
tion of  Inspiration  has,  within  the  last  half  century,  been 
made  to  turn  upon  the  writers.  It  has  been  unhinged 
from  those  stanchions  on  which  St.  Paul  makes  it  turn — 
the  Writings  themselves. 

This  misdirection  of  thought  would  seem  to  be  much 
like  that  of  the  boy  who  stands  at  the  end  of  the  tele- 
graph line  and  gets  a  message  from  his  father  ("  1  have 
written  to  him  the  great  things  of  My  Law"),  and  who, 
instead  of  taking  the  message  as  direct,  authoritative, 
final,  goes  to  work  to  discuss  the  posts,  the  wires,  elec- 
tricity, the  key-board,  the  touch  of  the  finger,  the  process. 
His  business  is  simply  to  heed  and  obey. 

The  doctrine  of  direct,  dictated,  verbal  Inspiration — 
that  everything  in  the  Bible  was  set  down  by  the  linger 
of  God — has  these  five  things  in  its  favor  : 

1.  It  is  the^Vstf,  original,  and  oldest  doctrine. 

2.  It  is  the  simplest  doctrine. 

3.  It  is  the  imdeviating  doctrine  which  has  proved  the 
bulwark  of  the  Church  of  God.     Defended  in  the  earli- 
est centuries  by  men  like  Athenagoras  and  St.  Augustine 
— defended  still  by  men  like  WicklifFe,  Huss,  and  Luther 
in  the  struggles  which  led  in  the  Reformation — and,  in 
post -Reformation  times,  defended;  by  men  like  the  Bux- 
torfs,  John  Owen,  John  Gill,  and  Gaussen — it  has  been 
the  one,  consistent,  inexpugnable,  permanent  doctrine  from 
the  beginning.     Scripture — sunlight  to  the  sun — is  the 


52    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

untarnishable   radiance  of    God.      What   it  says,    God 
says. 

4.  A  fourth  fact  is  the  logical  impossibility  of  any 
other  counter  position.  "  If  we  do  not  take  direct  Inspi- 
ration," says  Waller,  "what  we  are  to  take  is  not  so 
clear."  If  we  begin  to  admit  inequalities  in  Revelation, 
where  shall  we  stop  ?  If  we  turn  our  attention  away 
from  the  writing  to  occupy  ourselves  with  the  writer — 
his  genius,  his  knowledge,  the  amount  of  assistance  re- 
quired— who  does  not  see  that  this  descent  from  heaven 
to  earth,  from  the  high  Himalaya  of  the  Divine  to  the 
low,  marshy  ground  of  the  creatural  human,  must  tend 
to  gravitate,  to  minimize,  and  more  and  more,  until  your 
Bible  is  reduced  to  Shakespeare  or  (who  knows  ?)  to  Bret 
Harte.  The  fabricators  of  degrees  in  Inspiration — the 
men  who  so  self-confidently  set  forth  to  us  their  four 
classes, — the  inspirations  of  "  elevation,"  of  "  superin- 
tendence," of  u  suggestion,"  of  "  direct  dictation," — tell 
us  themselves  that  the  last  is  the  highest.  Ah  well !  we 
will  choose — we  will  cling  to  that  highest.  Why  not  ? 
If  dictation  anywhere — in  any  one  instance,  then  dicta- 
tion all  the  way  through.  If  not,  why  not  ?  Where  are 
the  limits?  Where  shall  we  stop?  Suppose  certain 
words  in  the  Scripture — only  a  few — to  be  put  there  by 
God.  Suppose  this  admitted,  and  it  is  admitted — who 
shall  define  the  number  of  those  words  ?  Who  shall  as- 
sume to  stand  up  and  tell  us  where  God  the  Holy  Ghost  ex- 
presses Himself  in  the  very  form  of  the  word  and  where  He 
retires  from  the  word  and  leaves  it  a  shell  merely  human  ? 

The  difficulties  attaching  to  any  other  view  of  Inspira- 
tion than  the  Verbal  are  simply  overwhelming.  Suppose 
that  something,  no  matter  how  little — whatever  you  please 
— be  left  to  the  writers  themselves,  and  who  shall  satisfy 
us  that  nothing  essential  has  been  omitted,  nothing  irrele- 
vant or  trifling  has  been  emphasized,  nothing  inaccurate 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  53 

has  been  set  down  ?     Who  does  not  see  that,  so,  inspira- 
tion is  utterly  lost  ? 

5.  And  that  leads,  logically,  up  to  the  climacteric  position, 
that  we  must  hold  to  Verbal  Inspiration,  or  if  not,  at  last — 
give  up  the  Bible.  What  other  result  can  there  be  ?  Is 
not  this  just  what  it  comes  back  to — "  I  receive  what  ap- 
peals to  my  likings,  I  repudiate  what  I  dislike "  ?  In 
other  words,  I  make  my  consciousness  my  arbiter — my 
prejudice,  my  Book — and  my  self-will,  my  God. 

The  subject  which  has  fallen  to  my  lot  in  this  discussion 
is,  The  Testimony  of  the  Scriptures  to  themselves — their 
own  self-evidence — the  overpowering,  unparticipated  wit- 
ness that  they  bring. 

Permit  me  to  expand  this  witness  under  the  following 
heads : 

I.  Immortality. 
II.  Authority. 
III.  Transcendent  Doctrine. 
IY.  Direct  Assertion. 

Y.  The  Casket  of  the  Gem — the  very  Language  in 
which  Revelation  is  enshrined. 

I.  Immortality — "  I  have  written  !  "  All  other  books 
die.  "  Most  of  the  libraries  are  cemeteries  of  dead  books." 
The  vast  perennial  literature  falls  as  the  leaves  fall,  and 
perishes  as  they  perish.  Few  old  books  survive,  and 
fewer  of  those  that  survive  have  any  influence.  Even  to 
scholars  the  names  of  Epictetus  and  Lucretius — of  the 
Novum  Organum — of  the  Nibelungen  Lied,  convey  noth- 
ing more  than  a  title.  They  have  heard  of  those  books — 
have  skimmed  a  page  or  two  here  and  there, — that  is  all. 
Most  of  the  books  we  quote  from  have  been  written  with- 
in the  last  three  or  even  one  hundred  years. 

But  here  is  a  book  whose  antemundane  voices  had  grown 
old,  when  voices  spake  in  Eden.  A  book  which  has  sur- 


54    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

vived  not  only  with  continued  but  increasing  lustre,  vitality, 
vivacity,  popularity,  rebound  of  influence.  A  book  which 
avalanches  itself  with  accretions,  like  the  snowball  that 
packs  as  it  goes.  A  book  which  comes  through  all  the 
shocks  without  a  wrench,  and  all  the  furnaces  of  all  the 
ages — like  an  iron  safe — with  every  document  in  every 
pigeon-hole,  without  a  warp  upon  it,  or  the  smell  of  fire. 
Here  is  a  book  of  which  it  may  be  said,  as  of  Immortal 
Christ  Himself — "  Thou  hast  the  dew  of  thy  youth  from 
the  womb  of  the  morning."  A  book  dating  from  days  as 
ancient  as  those  of  the  Ancient  of  Days — and  which  when 
all  that  makes  up  what  we  see  and  call  the  universe  shall 
be  dissolved,  will  still  speak  on  in  thunder-tones  of  majes- 
ty, and  whisper-tones  of  light  and  music-tones  of  love — 
for  it  is  wrapping  in  itself  the  everlasting  past — and  open- 
ing and  expanding  from  itself  the  everlasting  future ;  and, 
like  an  all-irradiating  sun,  will  still  roll  on,  while  deathless 
ages  roll,  the  one  unchanging,  unchangeable  Revelation 
of  God. 

II.  Immortality  is  on  these  pages,  and  Authority  sets 
here  her  seal.  This  is  the  second  point.  A  Standard. 

Useless  to  talk  about  no  standard.  Nature  points  to 
one.  Conscience  cries  out  for  one — conscience  which 
without  a  law  constantly  wages  the  internal  and  excruci- 
ating war  of  accusing  or  else  excusing  itself. 

There  must  be  a  Standard  and  an  Inspired  Standard— 
for  Inspiration  is  the  Essence  of  Authority r,  and  authority 
is  in  proportion  to  Inspiration — the  more  Inspired  the 
greater  the  authority — the  less,  the  less.  Even  the  ra- 
tionalist Rothe,  a  most  intense  opponent,  has  admitted 
that  "  that  in  the  Bible  which  is  not  the  product  of  direct 
inspiration  has  no  binding  power." 

Verbal  and  direct  Inspiration  is,  therefore,  the  <c  Ther- 
mopylae "  of  Biblical  and  Scriptural  faith.  No  breath,  no 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  55 

syllable ;  no  syllable,  no  word ;  no  word,  no  Book ;  no 
Book,  no  religion. 

We  hold,  from  first  to  last,  that  there  can  be  no  possi- 
ble advance  in  Revelation — no  new  light.  What  was 
written  at  first,  the  same  thing  stands  written  to-day,  and 
will  stand  forever.  The  Bible,  the  true  fact  beneath  the 
Grecian  myth,  springs  into  light  Minerva-like,  full 
armed.  The  emanation  of  the  mind  of  God  —  it  is 
complete,  perfect.  "  Nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor  any- 
thing taken  from  it."  Its  ipse  dixit  is  peremptory — final. 

What  can  be  more  awful,  more  stupendous  than  the 
sanction  which  rounds  up  the-  Book,  by  which  it  is  se- 
cured and  sealed  and  guarded  ?  "  If  any  man  shall  add 
unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues 
that  are  written  in  this  Book :  and  if  any  man  shall  take 
away  from  the  words  of  the  Book  of  this  prophecy,  God 
shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the  Book  of  life,  and  out 
of  the  Holy  City,  and  from  the  things  which  are  written 
in  this  Book." 

The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  not  simply  CON- 
TAINS it.  This  is  clear, — 

Because  all  the  words  in  it,  even  those  of  the  Devil  and 
of  wicked  men,  were  put  down  by  the  finger  of  God. 

Because  the  Bible  styles  itself  the  Word  of  God. 
"  The  Word  of  the  Lord  is  right,"  says  the  Psalmist. 
Again,  u  Thy  Word  is  a  lamp  to  my  feet."  "  Where- 
withal shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  ?  By  taking 
heed  thereto  according  to  Thy  Word"  "  The  grass  with- 
ereth,"  says  Isaiah,  "  the  flower  thereof  fadeth,  but  the 
Word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever." 

Not  only  is  the  Bible  called  the  Word  of  God,  but 
it  is  distinguished  from  all  other  books  by  "that  very  title. 
It  is  so  distinguished  in  the  119th  Psalm,  and  every- 
where the  contrast  between  it  and  every  human  book  is 
deepened  and  sustained. 


56   TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

If  we  will  not  call  the  Bible  the  Word  of  God,  then 
wo  cannot  call  it  anything  else.  If  we  insist  upon  a  de- 
scription rigorously  exact  and  unexposed  to  shafts  of  wan- 
ton criticism,  then  the  Book  remains  anonymous.  We 
cannot  more  consistently  say  "  Holy  Scripture,"  because 
the  crimes  recorded  on  its  pages  are  not  holy ;  because 
expressions  like  "  Curse  God  and  die,"  and  others  from 
the  lips  of  Satan  and  of  wicked  men,  are  unholy.  The 
Bible,  however,  is  "holy,"  because  its  aim  and  its  meth- 
ods are  holy.  The  Bible,  like  wise,  is  the  Word  of  God, 
because  it  comes  from  God ;  because  its  every  word  was 
penned  by  God ;  because  it  is  the  only  exponent  of  God  ; 
the  only  rule  of  His  procedure,  and  the  Book  by  which 
we  must  at  last  be  judged. 

1.  The  Bible  is  authority  because  in  it,  from  cover  to 
cover,  God  is  the  speaker.    Said  a  leader  of  our  so-called 
orthodoxy  to  a  crowded  audience  but  a  little  while  ago  : 
"  The  Bible  is  true.     Any  man  not  a  fool  must  believe 
what  is  true.     What  difference  does  it  make  who  wrote 
it?" 

This  difference,  brethren  :  the  solemn  bearing  down  of 
God  on  the  soul !  My  friend  may  tell  me  what  is  true  ; 
my  wife  may  tell  me  what  is  true ;  but  what  they  say  is 
not  solemn.  Solemnity  comes  in  when  God  looks  into 
my  face — God !  and  behind  Him  everlasting  destiny — 
and  talks  with  me  about  my  soul.  In  the  Bible  GOD 
speaks,  and  GOD  is  listened  to,  and  men  are  born  again  by 
God's  Word.  "  He  is  not  a  Christian  who  believes 
or  obeys  Matthew  or  John  or  Peter  or  Paul."  What 
makes  a  Christian  is  believing  and  obeying  God.  "  So 
then  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  Word 
of  God."  It  is  God? s  Revelation  that  faith  hears,  and  it 
is  on  God  revealed  that  faith  rests. 

2.  The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God.    It  comes  to  us  an- 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.   57 

nounced  l>y  miracles  and  heralded  with  fire.  Take  the 
Old  Testament — Mt.  Sinai ;  take  the  New  Testament — 
Pentecost.  Would  God  himself  stretch  out  His  hand 
and  write  on  tables  in  the  giving,  and  send  down  tongues 
of  fire  for  the  proclamation  of  a  Kevelation,  every  parti- 
cle and  shred  of  which  was  not  His  own  ?  In  other 
words,  would  He  work  miracles  and  send  down  tongues 
of  fire  to  signalize  a  work  merely  human,  or  even  partly 
human  and  partly  Divine  ?  How  unworthy  of  God,  how 
impious,  how  utterly  impossible  the  supposition ! 

3.  The  Bible  comes  clothed  with  authority  in  the  high- 
handed and  exalted  terms  of  its  address.    God  in  the  Bi- 
ble speaks  out  of  a  whirlwind  and  with  the  voice  of  Eli  as. 
What  grander  proof  of  literal  inspiration  can  be  than  in 
the  high-handed  method  and  imperative  tone  of  prophets 
and  apostles  which  enabled  them — poor  men,  obscure, 
and  without  an  influence ;  fishermen,  artisans,  publicans, 
day-laborers — to  brave  and  boldly  teach  the  world  from 
Pharaoh  and  from  Nero  down  ?     Was  this  due  to  any- 
thing less  than  God  speaking  in  them — to  the  overpower- 
ing impulse  and  seizure  of  God  ?     Who  can  believe  it  ? 
Who  is  not  struck  with  the  power  and  the  wisdom  of 
God  ?     "  His  words  were  in  my  bones,"  cries  one.     "  I 
could  not  stay.     The  lion  hath  roared,  who  will  not  fear ; 
the  Lord  hath  spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy  ? " 

4.  The  Bible  is  the  optime  of  authority,  because  it  is 
from  first  to  last  a  glorious  projection  on  the  widest  scale 
of  the  decrees  of  God.    The  sweep  of  the  Bible  is  from  the 
Creation  of  Angels  to  a  new  heaven  and  new  earth,  across 
a  lake  of  fire.     What  a  field  for  events !    what  an  ex- 
panse beyond  the  sweep  or  even  reach  of  human  fore- 
thought,  criticism,   or    co-operation!    what   a  labyrinth 
upon   whose  least   and   minutest   turning  hangs   entire 
redemption,  since  a   chain   is  never   stronger   than  its 
smallest  link !     Who,  then,  will  dare  to  speak  till  God 


58    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

has  spoken  ?  "  I  will  declare  the  decree  !  "  That  pushes 
everything  aside — that  makes  the  declaration  an  exten- 
sion, so  to  say,  of  the  Declarer. 

"  I  will  declare  the  decree !  "  When  we  consider  that 
the  Bible  is  an  exact  projection  of  the  decrees  of  God  into 
the  future,  this  argument  is  seen  to  lift,  indeed,  to  a  cli- 
max ;  and,  in  fact,  it  does  reach  to  the  very  Crux  of  con- 
troversy ;  for  ths  hardest  thing  for  us  to  believe  about 
God  is  to  believe  that  He  exactly  absolutely  knows,  be- 
cause He  has  ordained,  the  future.  Every  attribute  of 
God  is  easier  to  grasp  than  that  of  an  infallible  Omnisci- 
ence. "  I  will  declare  the  decree,"  therefore,  calls  for  di- 
rect inspiration. 

5.  The  Bible  is  the  optime  of  authority,  because  the 
Hooks  at  the  end  of  the  chain  prove  the  dictated  Inspi- 
ration of  its  every  link.     Compare  the  Fall  in  Genesis — 
(one  link),  with  the  Resurrection  in  the  Apocalypse — the 
other.    Compare  the  Old  Creation  in  the  first  chapters  of 
the  Old  Testament  with  the  New  Creation  in  the  last 
chapters  of  the  New.     "  We  open  the  first  pages  of  the 
Bible,"  says  Yallotton,  "  and  we  find  there  the  recital  of  the 
creation  of  the  world  by  the  word  of  God — of  the  fall  of 
man,  of  his  exile  far  from  God — far  from  Paradise,  and 
far  from  the  tree  of  life.     We  open  the  last  pag;es  of  the 
last  of  the  66  books  dating  4,000  years  later.    God  is  still 
speaking.     He  is  still  creating.     He  creates  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth.     Man  is  found  there  recovered.     He  is 
restored  to  communion  with  God.     He  dwells  again  in 
Paradise,  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  tree  of  life.     Who  is 
not  struck  by  the  strange  correspondence  of  this  end  with 
that  beginning  ?     Is  not  the  one  the  prologue,  the  other 
the  epilogue  of  a  drama  as  vast  as  unique  ? " 

6.  The  Bible  is  the  optime  of  authority,  because,  over 
this  vast  range  of  supernatural,  confessedly  Divine  thought, 
purpose,  and  action,  there  are  no  lights,  and  no  explanations. 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.   59 

save  those  furnished  ~by  the  Book  itself.  That  Book  must 
be  supreme,  whose  only  parallel,  comparison,  and  con- 
firmation is  itself.  Here  is  an  argumentum  ad  hominem. 
Why  do  we  not  possess  concordances  for  other  volumes — 
for  their  very  words  ?  Because  in  human  writings  there 
is  no  such  nicety — no  such  Divine  significance  as  makes  the 
sense  and  all  the  argument  turn  on  the  single  words,  and 
their  exact  consistency  and  correspondence  everywhere 
throughout  the  book. 

Your  concordance,  my  brother,  every  time  you  take  it 
up,  speaks  loudly  to  you  of  the  inspiration  and  authority 
of  Holy  Writ.  It  says  to  you  :  "  Not  the  Bible  only,  but 
this  word,  that  word — all  these  single  words,  are  God- 
breathed — Divine ! " 

7.  Another  argument  for  the  supreme  authority  of 
Scripture,  is  the  character  of  the  investigation  challenged 
for  the  Word  of  God.  The  Bible  courts  the  closest  scru- 
tiny. Its  open  pages  blaze  the  legend :  "  Search  the  Scrip- 
tures !  "  Ereunao — "  Search."  It  is  a  sportsman's  term, 
and  borrowed  from  the  chase.  "  Trace  out " — "  track 
out" — follow  the  word  in  all  its  usages  and  windings. 
Scent  it  out  to  its  remotest  meanings,  as  a  dog  the  hare. 

"  They  searched,"  again  says  St.  Luke,  in  the  Acts,  of 
the  Bereans.  There  it  is  another  word,  ana&rino,  "  they 
divided  up,"  analyzed,  sifted,  pulverized,  as  in  a  mortar — 
to  the  last  thought. 

What  a  solemn  challenge  is  this !  What  book  but  a 
Divine  Book  would  dare  speak  such  a  challenge  ?  If  a 
book  has  been  written  by  man,  it  is  at  the  mercy  of  men. 
Men  can  go  through  it,  riddle  it,  sift  it,  and  leave  it  be- 
hind them,  worn  out.  But  the  Bible,  a  Book  dropped 
from  heaven,  is  "  God-breathed."  It  swells,  it  dilates, 
with  the"  bodying  fullness  of  God,  God  has  written  it, 
and  none  can  exhaust  it.  Apply  your  microscopes,  ap- 
ply your  telescopes  to  the  material  of  Scripture.  They 


60    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

separate,  but  do  not  fray,  its  threads.  They  broaden  out 
its  nebulae,  but  iind  them  clustered  stars.  They  do  not 
reach  the  hint  of  poverty  in  Scripture.  They  nowhere 
touch  on  coarseness  in  the  fabric,  nor  on  limitations  in 
horizon,  as  always  is  the  case  when  tests  of  such  a  char- 
acter are  brought  to  bear  on  any  work  of  man's.  You 
put  a  drop  of  water,  or  a  fly's  wing,  under  a  microscope. 
The  stronger  the  lens,  the  more  that  drop  of  water  will 
expand,  till  it  becomes  an  ocean  filled  with  sporting  ani- 
malcules. The  higher  the  power,  the  more  exquisite,  the 
more  silken  become  the  tissues  of  the  fly's  wing,  until  it 
attenuates  almost  to  the  golden  and  gossamer  threads  of 
a  seraph's.  So -is  it  with  the  Word  of  God.  The  more 
scrutiny,  the  more  divinity;  the  more  dissection,  the  more 
perfection.  We  cannot  bring  to  it  a  test  too  penetrating, 
nor  a  light  too  lancinating,  nor  a  touchstone  too  exacting. 
The  Bible  is  beyond  all  attempts  at  exhaustion,  not 
only,  but  comprehension.  No  human  mind  can,  by  search- 
ing, find  out  the  fullness  of  God.  "  For  what  man  know- 
eth  the  things  of  a  man  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is 
in  him  ?  even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man  save 
the  Spirit  of  God." 

III.  That  leads  up  to  the  third  point.  The  Scriptures 
testify  to  their  Divine  Original  by  their  transcendent  doc- 
trine, their  outshining  light,  their  native  radiance,  the 
glow  of  the  Divine,  the  witness  of  the  Spirit. 

We  should  expect  to  find  a  Book,  that  came  from 
God,  pencilled  with  points  of  jasper  and  of  sardine  stone 
— erihaloed  with  a  brightness  from  the  everlasting  hills. 
We  should  look  for  that  about  the  book  which,  flashing 
conviction  at  once,  should  carry  overwhelmingly  and  ev- 
erywhere, by  its  bare,  naked  witness — by  what  it  simply 
is.  That,  just  as  God,  by  stretching  out  a  hand  to  write 
upon  the  "plaister"  of  a  Babylonian  palace,  stamped, 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  61 

through  mysterious  and  disjointed  words,  conviction  of 
Divinity  upon  Belshazzar,  and  each  one  of  his  one  thou- 
sand "  lords,"  so,  after  that  same  analogue, — why  not  ? — 
God  should  stretch  out  His  hand  along  the  unrolling  pal- 
impsests of  all  the  ages,  and  write  upon  them  larger 
words,  which,  to  the  secret  recognition  of  each  human  soul 
should  say,  not  only,  "  This  is  Truth,"  but  "  This  is  Truth, 
God-spoken !  " 

The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  because  it  is  the  Book 
of  Infinites — the  Revelation  of  what  nature,  without  it, 
never  could  have  attained,  and,  coming  short  of  the 
knowledge  of  which,  nature  were  lost. 

The  greatest  need  of  the  soul  is  salvation.  It  is  such  a 
knowledge  of  God  as  shall  assure  us  of  "  comfort "  here 
and  hereafter.  Such  a  knowledge,  nature,  outside  of  the 
Bible,  does  not  contain.  Everywhere  groping  in  his  dark- 
ness, man  is  confronted  by  two  changeless  facts.  One,  his 
guilt,  which,  as  he  looks  down,  sinks  deeper  and  deeper. 
The  other,  the  Justice  of  God,  which,  as  he  looks  up,  lifts 
higher  and  higher.  Infinite  against  Infinite — Infinite 
here ;  Infinite  there — no  bridge  between  them  !  Nature 
helps  to  no  bridge.  It  nowhere  speaks  of  Atonement. 

Standing  with  Uriel  in  the  sun,  we  launch  the  propo- 
sition that  the  Scriptures  are  Divine  in  their  very  mes- 
sage because  they  deal  with  three  Infinites : — Infinite 
Guilt ;  Infinite  Holiness  ;  Infinite  Atonement. 

A  Book  must  itself  be  infinite  which  deals  with  In- 
finites ;  and  a  Book  must  be  Divine  which  divinely  recon- 
ciles Infinites. 

Infinite  Guilt !  Has  my  guilt  any  bottom.  ?  Is  Hell 
any  deeper  ?  Is  there?  in  introspection,  a  possible  lower, 
more  bottomless  nadir?  Infinite  Guilt!  That  is  what 
opens,  caves  away  under  my  feet,  the  longer,  the  more 
carefully  I  plumb  my  own  heart— my  nature,  my  record. 
Infinitely  guilty  !  That  is  what  I  ani  and  where — far,  far 


62    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

below  the  plane  of  self-apology,  or  ghastly  "  criticism  "  of 
the  Book  which  testifies  to  this.  Infinitely  guilty !  That 
is  what  I  am.  Infinitely  sinking,  and,  below  me,  an  in- 
finite Tophet.  1  know  that.  As  soon  as  the  Bible  de- 
clares it,  I  know  it,  and,  with  it,  I  know  that  witnessing 
Bible  divine.  I  know  it — I  do  not  know  how — by  an 
instinct,  by  conscience,  by  illumination,  by  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  of  God;  by  the  Word  without,  and  by  the 
flashed  conviction  in  me  which  accord. 

And,  counterpoised  above,  me,  a  correlative  Infinite — 
God!  What  can  be  higher?  What  zenith  loftier  ?  What 
doming  of  responsibility  more  dread  or  more  portentous  ? 
Infinite  God — above  me — coming  to  judge  me  !  On  the 
way  now.  I  must  meet  Him.  1  know  that.  I  know  it, 
as  soon  as  the  Bible  declares  it.  I  know  it — I  do  not  know 
how — by  an  instinct.  Even  the  natural  man  must  picture 
to  himself  when  thus  depicted,  and  must  fear, 

"A  God  hi  grandeur,  and  a  world  on  fire." 

An  infinitely  Holy  God  above  me,  coming  to  judge  me. 
That  is  the  Second  Infinite. 

Then  the  Third  and  what  completes  the  Triangle,  and 
makes  its  sides  eternally,  divinely  equal — Infinite  Atone- 
ment— an  Infinite  Saviour — God  on  the  cross  making 
answer  to  God  on  the  throne — my  Jesus — my  refuge — 
my  Everlasting  Jehovah. 

By  these  three  Infinites — especially  this  last — this  in- 
finite Atonement,  for  which  my  whole  being  cries  out  its 
last  cry  of  exhaustion — by  this  third  side  of  the  stupendous 
Triangle — the  side  which,  left  to  myself,  I  could  never 
make  out,  the  Bible  proves  itself  the  sonl'a  Geometry— 
the  one  Eternal  Mathematics — the  true  Revelation  of  God. 

Aye. !  and  by  that  ineffable  something — self-luminous — 
flooding  the  soul,  which  bathing  the  Book  bears  the  reader 
as  well  on  its  tide. 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  63 

La  larga  ploia 

Dello  Spirito  santo,  cli'e  diffusa 
In  su  le  Vecchie  e  in  su  le  nuove  cuoia, 
E  sillogismo,  che  la  mi  ha  conchiusa 
Acutamente  si,  che  in  verso  d'ella 
Ogni  dimostrazioii  mi  pare  ottusa. 

"The  flood,  I  answered,  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
Kained  down  upon  the  Ancient  Testament  and  New, 
This  is  the  reasoning  that  convinceth  me 
So  feelingly,  each  argument  beside 
Seems  blunt  and  forceless  in  comparison. "  * 

"We  take  the  ground  that  these  three  things — Guilt, 
God,  Atonement — set  thus  in  star-like  apposition  and 
conjunction,  speak  from  the  sky,  more  piercingly  than 
stars  do,  saying :  "  Sinner  and  sufferer,  this  Eevelation 
is  Divine ! " 

We  take  the  open  ground,  that  a  single  stray  leaf  of 
God's  Word,  found  by  the  wayside,  by  one  who  never 
had  seen  it  before,  would  convince  him  at  once  that  the 
strange  and  the  wonderful  words  were  those  of  his  God — 
were  Divine. 

The  Scriptures  are  their  own  self- evidence.  We  take 
the  ground  the  sun  requires  no  critic — truth  no  diving- 
bell.  When  the  sun  shines,  he  shines  the  sun.  When 
God  speaks,  His  evidence  is  in  the  accent  of  His  words. 

How  did  the  prophets  of  old  know,  when  God  spoke 
to  them,  that  it  was  God?  Did  they  subject  the  voice, 
that  shook  their  every  bone,  and  made  their  flesh  dissolve 
upon  them,  to  a  critical  test?  Did  they  put  God,  so  to 
say — as  some  of  our  moderns  would  seem  to  have  done — 
into  a  crucible,  into  a  chemist's  retort,  in  order  to  certify 
that  He  was  God  ?  Did  they  find  it  necessary  to  hold 
the  handwriting  of  God  in  front  of  the  blow-pipe  of  anx- 


*  Dante—  II  Paradiso. 


64-    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

ious  philosophical  examination,  in  order  to  bring  out  and 
to  make  the  invisible,  visible  ?  The  very  suggestion  is 
madness. 

The  Scriptures  are  their  own  self-evidence.  The  re- 
fusal of  the  Bible  on  its  simple  presentation,  is  enough  to 
damn  any  man,  and,  if  persisted  in,  will  damn  him — for, 

11 A  glory  gilds  the  sacred  page, 

Majestic,  like  the  sun, 
It  gives  a  light  to  every  age, 
It  gives,  but  borrows  none." 

IV.  Glory  spreads  over  the  face  of  the  Scriptures,  but 
this  glory,  when  scrutinized  closely,  is  seen  to  contain 
certain  features  and  outlines — testimonies  inside  of  itself, 
direct  assertions,  which  conspire  to  illustrate  again  its 
high  Divinity,  and  to  confirm  its  claim. 

This  is  our  fourth  point :  The  Scriptures  say  of  them- 
selves that  they  are  Divine.  They  not  only  assume  it ; 
they  say  it.  And  this,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  is  intrin- 
sic— a  witness  inside  of  the  witness,  and  one  upon  which 
something  more  than  conviction — confidence,  or  Spirit- 
born  and  saving  faith,  depends. 

The  argument  from  the  self-assertion  of  Scripture  is 
cumulative. 

1st.  The  Bible  claims  that,  as  a  Book,  it  comes  from 
God. 

2d.  It  asserts  that  its  very  words  are  the  words  of  God. 

3d.  It  asserts  that  each  pen-stroke  is  God-breathed— 
inspired. 

Now,  let  us  go  back,  and  resume  these  three  points  a 
little  more  slowly  ;  and, 

1st.  The  Bible  claims  that,  as  a  Book,  it  comes  from 
God.  In  various  ways,  it  urges  this  claim. 

One  thing ;  it  says  so.     "  God  in  old  times  spake  by 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  65 

the  prophets ;  God  now  speaks  by  His  Son."  The 
question  of  Inspiration  is,  in  its  first  statement,  the  ques- 
tion of  Kevelation  itself.  If  the  Book  be  divine,  then 
what  it  says  of  itself  is  Divine.  The  Scriptures  are  in- 
spired because  they  say  they  are  inspired.  The  question 
is  simply  one  of  Divine  testimony,  and  our  business  is,  as 
simply,  to  receive  that  testimony.  "  Inspiration  is  as 
much  an  assertion,"  says  Haldane,  "  as  is  justification  by 
faith.  Both  stand,  and  equally,  on  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  which  is  as  much  an  ultimate  authority  upon 
this  point  as  upon  any  other."  When  God  speaks,  and 
when  He  says  "  1  speak  !  "  there  is  the  whole  of  it.  He 
is  bound  to  be  heard  and  obeyed. 

And  God  does  speak.  He  brings  the  Bible  to  us,  and 
He  claims  to  be  its  Author.  If,  at  this  moment,  yonder 
heavens  were  opened — the  curtained  canopy  of  star-sown 
clouds  rolled  back — if,  amid  the  brightness  of  the  light 
ineffable,  the  Dread  Eternal  were  Himself  seen,  rising 
from  His  throne,  and  heard  to  speak  to  us  in  voices  au- 
dible— no  one  of  these  could  be  more  potent,  more  imper- 
ative, than  what  lies  now  before  us  upon  Inspiration's  page. 

In  the  Bible,  GOD  speaks,  and  speaks  not  only  by 
proxy.  Leviticus  is  a  signal  example  of  this.  Chapter 
after  chapter  of  Leviticus  begins :  "And  the  Lord  spake, 
saying";  and  so  it  runs  on  through  the  chapter.  Moses 
is  simply  a  listener,  a  scribe.  The  self- announced  speaker 
is  God. 

In  the  Bible,  God  himself  comes  down  and  speaks,  not 
in.  the  Old  Testament  alone,  and  not  alone  by  proxy. 
"  The  New  Testament  presents  us,"  says  Dean  Burgon, 
"  with  the  august  spectacle  of  the  Ancient  of  Days,  hold- 
ing the  entire  volume  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  in 
His  hands,  and  interpreting  it  of  Himself.  He,  the  In- 
carnate Word,  '  who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God,' 
and  '  who  was  God ' — that  same  Almighty  One  is  set 


66    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

forth  in  the  Gospels  as  holding  the  '  volume  of  the  Book ' 
in  His  hands — as  opening  and  unfolding  it,  and  explain- 
ing it  everywhere  of  Himself." 

Christ  everywhere  receives  the  Scriptures,  and  speaks 
of  the  Scriptures,  in  their  entirety — the  Law,  the  Proph 
ets,  and  the  Psalms,  the  whole  Old  Testament  canon — as 
the  living  Oracle  of  God.  He  accepts  and  He  endorses 
everything  written,  and  even  makes  most  prominent 
those  miracles  which  infidelity  regards  as  most  incredible. 
And  He  does  all  this  upon  the  ground  of  the  authority  of 
God.  He  passes  over  the  writer — leaves  him  out  of  ac- 
count. In  all  His  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament, 
He  mentions  but  four  of  the  writers  by  name.  The  ques- 
tion with  Him  is  not  a  question  of  the  reporter,  but  of 
the  Dictator.  Suppose  a  sovereign  like  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
dictating  five  or  six  letters  to  five  or  six  different  private 
secretaries  at  once.  Suppose  that  six  agents  have  penned 
the  six  parts  of  one  letter!  Our  Saviour  does  not  see  the 
six  pens.  He  sees  the  one  Writer,  the  one  Hand  out- 
stretched, viewless,  infallible,  awful — behind  all  human 
hands. 

And  this  position  of  our  Saviour  which  exalted  Scrip- 
ture as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  living  God  was  steadily 
maintained  by  the  apostles  and  the  apostolic  Church. 
Again  and  over  "again,  in  the  book  of  the  Acts,  in  all 
the  Epistles,  do  we  find  such  expressions  as  "  He  saith," 
"  God  saith,"  «  The  oracles  of  God,"  «  The  Holy  Ghost 
saith,"  "Well  spake  the  Holy  Ghost  by  Esaias  the 
prophet." 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  furnishes  a  splendid  illus- 
tration of  this,  where,  setting  forth  the  whole  economy  of 
the  Mosaic  rites,  the  author  adds,  "  The  Holy  Ghost  this 
signifying."  Further  on,  and  quoting  words  of  Jere- 
miah, he  enforces  them  with  the  remark,  "  The  Holy 
Ghost  is  witness  to  us  also."  The  imperial  argument  on 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE'  TO  ITSELF.  67 

Psalm  xcv.  he  clenches  with  the  application,  "  Wherefore 
(as  the  Holy  Ghost  saith),  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  His 
voice."  Throughout  the  entire  Epistle,  whoever  may 
have  been  the  writer  quoted  from,  the  words  of  the  quota- 
tion, are  referred  to  God.* 

2d.  But  now  let  us  come  closer,  to  the  very  exact  and 
categorical  and  unequivocal  assertion.  If  the  Scriptures 
as  a  Book  are  Divine,  then  what  they  say  of  themselves 
is  Divine.  What  do  they  say  I 

In  this  inquiry,  let  us  keep  our  fingers  on  two  words, 
and  always  on  two  words — the  Apostolic  keys  to  the 
whole  Church  position — " ypacp??,"  "  0§pxvevffTO$" 

"  Graphe  " — writing,  writing,  THE  WETTING, — not  some- 
body, something  back  of  the  Writing.  The  Writing, 
"He  Gmphe"  that  was  inspired. 

And  what  is  meant  by  inspired?  "Tlieopnemtos" 
God-breathed.  Modern  theologians  have  played  at  shut- 
tle-cock with  various  "  degrees  "  of  inspiration.  It  is  in- 
deed a  wretched  play — this  bandying  of  quibbles  in  the 
mouths  of  mortals  to  whom  God  vouchsafes  to  speak,  and 
who  themselves  are  sitting  shaking  on  the  crumbling  prec- 
ipice of  an  Eternal  destiny. 

Degrees  of  inspiration !  Shades  of  varying  value  in 
the  cadences  of  the  Almighty's  voice !  He  whispers, 
hesitates,  speaks  low  in  Esther,  in  the  sixteenth  chapter 
of  St.  Mark,  and  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gos- 
pel. He  stutters,  falters  in  the  Genealogies;  is  inaccu- 
rate iu  figures.  He  evidently  weakens,  halts :  Almighty 
God  breaks  down ! 

Degrees  of  inspiration  !  The  older  theologians,  thank 
God,  did  not  know  them — nor  own  them.  Why  should 
they  ?  As  well  discuss  degrees  in  Deity,  in  Predestina- 


*  Olshausen,  Die  Echtheit  des  N.  T.}  cited  by  Dr.  Lee. 


68   TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

tion,  in  Providence,  as  talk  about  degrees  in  that  of  which 
Augustine  says:  "Whatsoever  He  willed  that  we  should 
read  either  of  His  doings  or  sayings  that  He  commis- 
sioned His  agents  to  write,  as  if  their  hands  had  been  His 
own  hands." 

"God  breathed"  sweeps  the  whole  ground.  God 
comes  down  as  a  blast  on  the  pipes  of  an  organ, — • 
in  voice  like  a  whirlwind,  or  in  still  whispers  like  ^Eolian 
tones,  and  saying  the  word,  He  seizes  the  hand,  and 
makes  that  hand  in  His  own  the  pen  of  a  most  ready  writer. 

Pasa  Graphe  Theopneustos!  "All  sacred  writing." 
More  exactly,  "  every  sacred  writing " — every  mark  on 
the  parchment  is  "God-breathed."  So  says  St.  Paul. 

Pasa  Graphe  Theopneustos  !  The  sacred  assertion  is 
not  of  the  instruments,  but  of  the  Author /  not  of  the 
agents,  but  of  the  Product.  It  is  the  sole  and  sovereign 
vindication  of  what  has  been  left  on  the  page  when  In- 
spiration gets  through.  "  What  is  written,"  says  Jesus, 
"  how  readest  thou  ? "  Men  can  only  read  what  is  written. 

Pasa  Grraphe  Theopneustos!  God  inspires  not  men, 
but  language.  The  phrase,  "  inspired  men,"  is  not  found 
in  the  Bible.  The  Scripture  never  employs  it.  The 
Scripture  says  that  "holy  men  were  moved" — -pherome- 
noi — but  that  their  writing,  their  manuscript,  what  they 
put  down  and  left  on  the  page,  was  God-breathed.  You. 
breathe  upon  a  pane  of  glass.  Your  breath  congeals 
there ;  freezes  there ;  stays  there ;  fixes  an  ice-picture 
there.  That  is  the  notion.  The  writing  on  the  page  be- 
neath the  hand  of  Paul  was  just  as  much  breathed  on, 
breathed  into  that  page,  as  was  His  soul  breathed  into 
Adam. 

The  Chirograph  was  God's  incarnate  voice,  as  truly  as 
the  flesh  of  Jesus  sleeping  on  the  "  pillow  "  was  incarnate 
God. 

We  take  the  ground  that  on  the  original  parchment — 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ^ITSELF.   69 

the  membrane — every  sentence,  word,  line,  mark,  point, 
pen-stroke,  jot,  tittle,  was  put  there  by  God. 

On  the  original  parchment.  There  is  no  question  of 
other,  anterior  parchments.  Even  were  we  to  indulge 
the  violent  extra-Scriptural  notion  that  Moses  or  Matthew 
transcribed  from  memory  or  from  other  books  the  things 
they  have  left  us ;  still,  in  any,  in  every  such  case,  the  se- 
lection, the  expression,  the  shaping  and  turn  of  the  phrase 
on  the  membrane  was  the  work  of  an  unaided  God. 

But  what?  Let  us  have  done  with  extra-Scriptural, 
presumptuous  suppositions.  The  burning  Isaiah — the 
perfervid,  wheel-gazing  Ezekiel  —  the  ardent,  seraphic 
St.  Paul,  caught  up,  up,  up  into  that  Paradise  which  he 
himself  calls  the  "  third  heaven  " — were  these  men  only 
"copyists,"  mere  self-moved  "redactors"?  I  trow  not. 
Their  pens  urged,  swayed,  moved  hither,  thither  by  the 
sweep  of  a  heavenly  current,  stretched  their  feathered 
tops,  like  that. of  Luke  upon  St.  Peter's  dome,  into  the 
far-off  Empyrean — winged  from  the  throne  of  God. 

We  take  the  ground  that  on  the  original  parchment, 
the  membrane,  every  sentence,  word,  line,  mark,  point, 
pen-stroke,  jot,  tittle,  was  put  there  by  God. 

On  the  original  parchment.  Men  may  destroy  that 
parchment.  Time  may  destroy  it.  To  say  that  the 
membranes  have  suffered  in  the  hands  of  men,  is  but  to 
say  that  everything  Divine  must  suffer,  as  the  pattern 
Tabernacle  suffered,  when  committed  to  our  hands.  To 
say,  however,  that  the  writing  has  suffered — the  words 
and  letters — is  to  say  that  Jehovah  has  failed. 

The  writing  remains.  Like  that  of  a  palimpsest,  it 
will  survive  and  reappear,  no  matter  what  circumstances 
—what  changes  come  in  to  scatter,  obscure,  disfigure,  or 
blot  it  away.  Not  even  one  lonely  THEOS  writ  large  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  on  the  Great  Uncial  "  C  "  as,  with  my 
own  eyes  I  have  seen  it — plain,  vivid,  glittering,  out- 


70    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

starting  from  behind  the  pale  and  overlying  ink  of 
Ephraem  the  Syrian — can  be  buried.  Like  Banquo's 
ghost,  it  will  rise ;  and  God  himself  replace  it,  and,  with 
a  hammer-stroke,  beat  down  deleting  hands.  The  parch- 
ments, the  membranes  decay ;  the  writings,  the  words 
are  eternal  as  God.  Strip  off  the  plaster  from  Belshaz- 
zar's  palace,  yet  Mene  !  Mene  !  Tekel !  Upharsin  !  re- 
main. They  remain. 

Let  us  go  through  them,  and  from  the  beginning,  and 
see  what  the  Scriptures  say  of  themselves. 

One  thing :  they  say  that  God  spake,  ttakai  £v  roi? 
npocprjTaiS,  "  anciently  and  all  the  way  down,  in  the 
prophets."  One  may  make,  if  he  pleases,  the  "fV"  in- 
strumental— as  it  is  more  often  instrumental — i.  e.,  "  ~by  " 
the  prophets ;  but  in  either  case,  in  them,  or  ~by  them,  the 
Speaker  was  God. 

Again :  the  Scriptures  say  that  the  laws  the  writers 
promulgated,  the  doctrines  they  taught,  the  stories  they 
recorded — above  all,  their  prophecies  of -Christ,  were  not 
their  own  ;  were  not  originated,  nor  conceived  by  them, — 
were  not  rehearsed,  by  them,  from  memory,  nor  obtained 
from  any  outside  sources — were  not  what  they  had  any 
means,  before,  of  knowing,  or  of  comprehending,  but  were 
immediately  from  God  ;  they  themselves  being  only  re- 
cipient, only  concurrent  with  God,  as  God  moved  upon 
them. 

Some  of  the  speakers  of  the  Bible,  as  Balaam,  the  Old 
Prophet  of  Bethel,  Caiaphas,  are  seized  and  made  to 
speak  in  spite  of  themselves;  and,  with  the  greatest  re- 
luctance, to  utter  what  is  farthest  from  their  minds  and 
hearts.  Others — in  fact  all — are  purblind  to  the  very 
oracles,  instructions,  visions,  they  announce.  "  Searching 
what,  or  what  manner  of  time,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which 
was  in  them  did  signify !  "  i.  e.,  the  prophets  themselves 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.   ?1 

did  not  know  what  they  wrote.  What  picture  can  be 
more  impressive  than  that  of  the  prophet  himself  hang- 
ing over  and  contemplating  in  surprise,  in  wonder,  in 
amazement,  his  own  autograph — as  if  it  had  been  left 
upon  the  table  there — the  relict  of  some  strange  and  su- 
pernatural Hand?  How  does  that  picture  lift  away  the 
Bible  from  all  human  hands  and  place  it  back,  as  His 
original  Deposit,  in  the  hands  of  Gad. 

Again  :  it  is  said  that*"  the  Word  of  the  Lord  came  " 
to  such  and  such  a  writer.  It  is  not  said  that  the  SPIRIT 
came,  which  is  true ;  but  that  the  Word  itself  came,  the 
Dabar-  Jehovah.  And  it  is  said :  "Hayo  Hay  a  Dabar" 
that  it  substantially  came— essentially  came  "  essendo 
fuit" — so  say  Pagninus,  Montanus,  Polanus — i.  e.,  it 
came  germ,  seed  and  husk  and  blossom — in  its  totality — 
"  words  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth  " — the  "  words." 

Again  :  it  is  denied^  and  most  emphatically,  that  the 
words  are  the  words  of  the  man— of  the  agent.  "  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord,"  says  David,  "  spake  by  me,  and  His 
word  was  in  my  tongue."  St.  Paul  asserts  that  "Christ 
spake  in  him  "  (2  Cor.  xiii.  3).  u  Who  hath  made  man's 
mouth  ?  Have  not  I,  the  Lord  ?  I  will  put  my  words 
into  thy  mouth."  That  looks  very  much  like  what  has 
been  stigmatized  as  the  "  mechanical  theory."  It  surely 
makes  the  writer  a  mere  organ,  although  not  an  uncon- 
scious, or  unwilling,  un spontaneous  organ.  Could  lan- 
guage more  plainly  assert  or  defend  a  verbal  direct  in- 
spiration ? 

Yes,  but  in  only  one  way — e.  0.,  by  denying  the  agent. 
And  that  denial  we  equally  have  from  the  lips  of  our 
Saviour.  "It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  }rour 
Father  which  speaketh  in  you.  Take  no  thought  how  or 
what  ye  shall  say.  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  teach  you  what 
ye  ought  to  say  " — both  ths* u  how  "  and  the  "  what " — 
both  the  matter  and  form. 


Y2   TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

In  a  line  with  the  fact,  again  it  is  said  that  the  word 
came  to  the  writers  without  any  study — "  suddenly  "  as 
to  Amos  (chap.  vii.  15),  where  he  is  taken  from  following 
the  flock. 

Again  :  When  the  word  thus  came  to  the  prophets  tJiey 
had  not  the  power  to  conceal  it.  It  was  "  like  a  fire  in 
their  bones"  which  innst  speak  or  write,  as  Jeremiah 
says,  or  consume  its  human  receptacle. 

And  to  make  this  more  clear,  it  is  said  that  holy  men 
were  pheromenoi,  "  moved  "  or  rather  carried  along  in  a 
supernatural,  ecstatic  current  —  a  delectatio  scribendi. 
They  were  not  left  one  instant  to  their  wit,  wisdom,  fan- 
cies, memories,  or  judgments  either  to  order,  or  arrange, 
or  dispose,  or  write  out.  They  were  only  reporters,  in- 
telligent, conscious,  passive,  plastic,  docile,  exact,  and  ac- 
curate reporters.  They  were  like  men  who  wrote  with 
different  kinds  of  ink.  They  colored  their  work  with 
tints  of  their  own  personality,  or  rather  God  colored  it, 
having  made  the  writer  as  the  writing,  and  the  writer  for 
that  special  writing ;  and  because  the  work  ran  through 
them  just  as  the  same  water,  running  through  glass  tubes, 
yellow,  green,  red,  violet,  will  be  yellow,  violet  and  green, 
and  red. 

God  wrote  the  Bible,  the  whole  Bible,  and  the  Bible 
as  a  whole.  He  wrote  each  word  of  it,  as  truly  as  He 
wrote  the  Decalogue  on  the  Tables  of  stone. 

Higher  criticism  tells  us — the  "  New  Departure  "  tells 
us,  that  Moses  was  inspired,  but  the  Decalogue  not.  But 
Exodus  and  Deuteronomy,  seven  times  over,  declare  that 
God  stretched  down  the  tip  of  His  finger  from  heaven  and 
left  the  marks,  the  gravements,  the  cut  characters,  the 
scratches  on  the  stones  (Exod.  xxiv.  12).  "  I  will  give  thee 
Tables  of  stone,  commandments,  which  I  have  written" 
(Exod.  xxxi.  18).  uAnd  He  gave  unto  Moses,  upon 
Mount  Sinai,  two  tables  of  testimony,  tables  of  stone 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  73 

written  with  the  finger  of  God  "  (Exod.  xxxii.  16).  "  The 
Tables  were  the  work  of  God  and  the  writing  was  the 
writing  of  God,  graven  upon  the  tables  "  (Dent.  iv.  12, 
13).  "  The  Lord  spake  unto  you  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
fire,  and  He  declared  unto  you  His  covenant,  even  ten 
command ments,  and  He  wrote  them  upon  two  tables  of 
stone  "  (Deut.  v.  22).  "  These  words  the  Lord  spake  and 
He  wrote  them  in  two  Tables  of  stone  and  delivered  them 
unto  me"  (Dent.  ix.  10).  "  And  the  Lord  delivered  unto 
me  two  Tables  of  stone  written  with  the  finger  of  God  !  " 

Seven  times,  and  to  men  to  whom  writing  is  instinct ; 
to  beings  who  are  most  of  all  impressed,  not  by  vague 
vanishing  voices,  but  by  words  arrested,  fixed,  set  down ; 
and  who  themselves  cannot  resist  the  impulse  to  commit 
their  own  words  to  some  written  deposit,  even  of  stone, 
or  of  bark,  if  they  have  not  the  paper ;  seven  times,  to 
men,  to  whom  writing  is  instinct  and  who  are  inclined  to 
rely  for  their  highest  conviction  on  what  they  have  styled 
"  documentary  evidence,"  i.  e.y  on  books ; — God  comes  in 
and  declares,  "  I  have  written  !  " 

The  Scriptures,  whether  with  the  human  instrument 
or  without  the  human  instrument,  with  Moses  or  without 
Moses,  were  written  by  God.  When  God  had  finished, 
Moses  had  nothing  else  to  do  but  carry  down  God's  auto- 
graph. That  is  our  doctrine.  The  Scriptures,  if  ten 
words,  then  all  the  words — if  the  Law,  then  the  Gospels 
— the  writing,  the  writings,  He  Graphe — Hai  Graphai — 
expressions  repeated  more  than  fifty  times  in  the  New 
Testament  alone — this,  these  were  inspired. 

3d.  But  if  the  words  were  inspired,  then  every  pen-stroke, 
mark,  scratch,  "jot,"  "tittle"  was  inspired — every  He- 
brew vowel-point  down  to  the  Segliol  and  the  Sheva. 

The  question  as  to  literal  and  autographic  inspiration 
will  always  move  back,  inch  by  inch,  in  discussion,  until 


74    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

it  has  readied  and  finally  confronted  the  crucial  defense 
of  the  Reformers — THAT  OF  THE  VERY  POINTS. 

The  New  Testament  hangs  for  authority  upon  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  Old  Testament  hangs  upon  the  points. 

It  is  perfectly  well  understood  by  us  all  that  the  con- 
sonants are  characters  or  letters  in  the  Hebrew,  and  that 
the  vowels  are  placed  over  these,  within  them,  but  espe- 
cially beneath  them  in  the  form  of  marks  or  points. 

These  points  determine  the  words,  and  the  words  de- 
termine the  sentence.  Whether  a  word  be  a  noun  or  a 
verb ;  or,  if  a  noun,  what  noun  ?  if  a  verb,  what  verb  ? 
passive  or  active,  past,  present,  or  future  ? — all  this,  in  a 
given  particular  case,  may  depend  on  the  points. 

Take  as  an  illustration,  in  the  Hebrew  the  word 

to  esteem.     This,  by  change  of  the  vowels,  becomes 
agate;  -i^EJ  a  porter;  *\y*$mle;  ^^  to  shudder ; 

T  -T 

the  hair ;   *)2fo  feari  horror.     All  seven  words,  verb, 

noun,  or  adjective,  to  be  distinguished  only  by  the  points. 

Take  as  another  illustration,  in  the  English,  the  word 
u  Broad,"  for  instance.  The  consonants  are  B.  R.  D. 
Now  for  the  vowels — Bard,  Bird,  Beard,  Board, 
Aboard,  Brad,  Braid,  Bred,  past  of  to  breed — Bread, 
an  article  of  food — Broad,  Abroad,  Brood.  Twelve 
words,  at  least  with  three  consonants. 

The  manuscript  is  theopneustic,  not  the  man.  The 
inspiration  of  the  Yowel-points — part  of  that  manuscript 
— is  therefore  seen  to  be  integral,  vital.  Of  course,  if 
the  pen-strokes  are  inspired  upon  the  parchment,  the 
words  are.  Give  the  pen-strokes,  and  you  give  the  words. 
The  establishment  of  the  Points  will,  therefore,  always  be 
the  establishment  of  the  Church  doctrine  of  exact,  direct, 
chirographical  inspiration  ;  and  not  only  this,  but  also  the 
establishment  of  one  straight,  permanent,  received,  and 
changeless  text ;  and  this  Dr.  Gin&burg,  himself  the 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  75 

foremost  laborer  against  that  text,  as  equally  against  the 
vowel-pointB,  most  readily  admits. 

The  constant,  uniform  tradition  of  the  Jews,  affirming 
that  the  points  came  down  from  Moses,  and  the  giving  of 
the  Law,  was  a  tradition  unbroken  down  to  the  year 
1538,  twenty-one  years  after  Luther  had  nailed  up  his 
Theses.  The  points  were  then  denied  by  Eli  as  Levita,  a 
rationalistic  Jew,  who  stood  alone  against  the  sentiment 
of  his  whole  nation,  at  the  time  of  writing  his  book.*  "  It 
is  to  the  Massoreth  Ha  Massoreth  of  Levita,"  as  Dr.  Gins- 
burg  admits,  "  that  we  owe  the  present  modern  contro- 
versy concerning  the  antiquity  and  inspiration  of  the 
Points,"  "  The  rejection  of  the  Points,"  as  he  admits, 
"  by  men  of  laxer  tendency,  following  Levita,  produced 
most  lamentable  effects,  especially  so  far  as  the  criticism 
of  the  Old  Testament  is  concerned  "  f — effects,  indeed, 
we  may  add,  from  which  we  have  not  yet  recovered,  but 
which,  in  spite  of  all  the  resistance  of  a  sound  and  a  loyal 
conservatism,  are  still  seen  working  themselves  out  in  the 
popular,  so-called,  "  Higher  Criticism  "  of  the  day.  "  It 
was,"  continues  Dr.  Ginsburg,  "  the  unwarrantable  lib- 
erty taken  with  the  text,  first  started  by  Capellus,  follow- 
ing in  the  wake  of  Levita,  and  the  resort  to  all  sorts  of 
emendations  and  conjectural  readings,  in  order  to  sus- 
tain the  peculiar  and  the  preconceived  fancies  of  different 
individuals  and  schools,  which  converted  the  controversy 
about  the  Yowel-points  into  an  Article  of  Faith  in  the 
Reformed  Church  of  Switzerland,  and  led  to  the  enacting 
of  a  law  in  1678  that  no  person  should  be  licensed  to 
preach  the  Gospel  in  the  churches,  unless  he  publicly  de- 
clared that  he  believes  in  the  integrity  of  the  Hebrew 
text,  and  in  the  Divinity  of  the  very  Vowel-points." 


*  Buxtorf,  Tractatus  de  Punc.  Origine* 
t  Massoreth  Ha  Massoreth,  p.  61. 


76    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

The  last  Doctrinal  Confession  of  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Switzerland,  the  Formula  Consensus  of  1675,  drawn 
up  by  Heidegger  and  Turrettin,  and  which  fitly  closes  the 
period  of  the  great  Calvinistic  confessions,  says  as  fol- 
lows: 

"In  particular,  do  we  accept  the  Hebrew  Codex  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which  comes  to  us  from  the  hands  of  the 
Jewish  Church,  to  which  were  formerly  committed  the 
'  Oracles  of  God ';  and  we  firmly  maintain  it,  not  only 
as  to  the  consonants,  but  also  as  to  the  vowels,  sive  ipsa 
puncta,  the  very  points ;  the  words  as  well  as  the  things, 
as  theopneustos — God-breathed — part  of  our  faith,  not 
only,  but  our  very  life." 

The  question  is  settled  for  us,  however,  not  by  Confes- 
sions, but  by  the  Book  itself. 

THE  BIBLE  TESTIFIES  THE  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  POINTS. 

1.  It  says,  with  reference  to  the  Tables  of  the  Law, 
that  they  were  the  work  of  God  absolutely  ;  and  that  the 
writing  was  the  writing  of  God — the  whole  of  it ;    and 
that  it  was  graven  of  God — every  scratch  of  it.     See 
Exod.  xxxii.  16. 

2.  Our  Saviour  tells  us  that  part  of  these  scratches 
were  "jots,"  or  yodhs,  and  "tittles,"   or  little  pointed 
marks,  and  that  not  one  of  these  shall  pass  away.     These 
words  of  Christ,  "jot,"  "  tittle"  (see  Matt.  v.  18),  are  no 
repetition  of  some  common  and  exaggerated  proverb,  and 
they  are  no  tautology.     They  mean,  in  all  Divine  inten- 
tion and  emphasis,  just  what  they  say,  and  they  refer  to 
the  specimen  of  the  two  Tables,  not  only,  but  to  the 
whole  scope  of  Scripture  as  well.     "  Seeing  our  Saviour," 
says  Fulke,  the  great  champion  of  Protestantism,  "seeing 
our  Saviour  hath  promised  that  never  a  prick  (i.  <?.,  a 
vowel-point)  of  the  Law  shall  perish,  we  may  understand 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  77 

His  words  of  all  the  prophets,  for  we  do  not  receive  the 
vowels  from  some  later  Jews,  but  from  the  Prophets 
themselves."  Such,  also,  is  the  comment  of  the  distin- 
guished Hebraist,  Hugh  Broughton,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
great  Fiscator,  who  says:  "It  appears  from  this  text 
(Matt,  y.  18),  that  the  Holy  Bible,  in  the  time  of  Christ, 
had  the  points,  arid  that  these  points  were  contirmed  by 
our  Saviour." 

3.  The  Bible  asserts  the  inspiration  of  the  very  vowel- 
points,  because  it  says  "words  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
teacheth  " — the  words.     "  Words,"  notice,  brethren,  not 
"  half-words, " — not  wind-swept  skeletons,  which  wait  to 
be  tilled  in  by  human  conjecture.     Consonants  are  not 
words,  and  if  men  can  make  vowels,  they  can  also  make 
consonants,  and  so  make  their  own  words,  and  so  make  a 
Bible.     Nor  does  the  minuteness  of  the  vowel-point  im- 
pugn the  argument,  since   God,  who  can    engrave   an 
Aleph,  can  equally  engrave  a  Kibbuts  or  a  Sheva.    Exod. 
xxxii.  16  says  that  He  did  so. 

4.  The  inference  is  unavoidable  from  Deut.  xxvii.  8, 
where  the  command  is  given  to  write  "  very  plainly  " — 
literally  to  cut  each  mark  in  deep.     This  must  include 
the  vowel-marks,  as  well  as  consonants,  for  on  them,  most 
of  all,  the  plainness  must  depend.     There  are  innumera- 
ble passages  where,  without  the  vowel-points,  no  man 
alive  can  tell  the  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  nor  know 
the  mind  of  God. 

Rome  opposes,  with  all  her  most  virulent  force,  the 
vowel- points,  because,  once  rid  of  these,  she  makes  the 
Church  the  arbiter — the  umpire  and  interpreter.  The 
Church  puts  in  the  points. 

This  anti-scriptural  and  arrogant  assumption  of  exclu- 
sive rights  in  the  monopoly  of  truth — the  very  doctrine 
of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  who  sit  in  Moses'  seat — was 
never  voiced  more  boldly  than  by  that  bulwark  of  the 


78    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

papacy,  Morinus,  who  does  not  hesitate  to  put  it  that 
u  the  reason  why  God  ordained  the  Scriptures  to  be  writ- 
ten in  this  ambiguous  manner  (i.  e.,  without  the  Points), 
is  because  it  is  His  will  that  every  man  should  be  sub- 
ject to  the  judgment  of  the  Church,  and  not  to  interpret 
the  Bible  in  his  own  way.  For,  seeing  that  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  is  so  difficult,  and  so  liable  to  various  ambi- 
guities, from  the  very  nature  of  the  thing,  it  is  plain  that 
it  is  not  the  will  of  God  that  every  one  should  rashly  and 
irreverently  take  upon  himself  to  explain  it;  nor  to  suf- 
fer the  common  people  to  expound  it  at  their  pleasure ; 
but  that  in  those  things,  as  in  other  matters  respecting 
religion,  it  is  His  will  that  the  people  should  depend  upon 
the  priests." 

Counter  to  this  entire  principle  of  Rome,  Protestantism 
stands  for  the  points,  and  the  more,  that  she  is  driven  to 
substitute  for  an  Infallible  Church,  an  Infallible  SOME- 
THING— a  Bible. 

"  The  Bible,"  says  Protestantism,  "  is  independent  of 
all  men — of  all  tradition,  of  all  councils,  of  all  decretals 
and  canons.  It  needs  no  Pope ;  nor  college  of  scarlet- 
frocked  cardinals ;  no  Ecumenical  Assembly  to  endorse 
its  claim." 

"  The  Church,"  says  Protestantism,  "  is  built  on  the 
Bible,  and  not  the  Bible  on  the  Church."  The  Church  is 
to  be  shaped  to  the  Bible,  not  the  Bible  to  the  Church. 
The  Church  is  to  return  to  the  Bible,  not  the  Bible  to 
the  Church.  The  Church  is  not  the  keeper  of  the  Bible, 
but  the  Bible  keeps  the  Church.  The  only  barrier 
against  backsliding ;  the  only  hope  in  reform ;  the  only 
power  to  heal,  that  is  vital,  is  the  Book  of  Books,  and  the 
conviction  that  its  every  utterance  and  every  pen-stroke 
is  Divine. 

5.  A  fifth  and  final  indirect  but  powerful  testimony  of 
the  Scripture  to  the  vowel-points,  is  in  the  marginal  notes 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  79 

which  the  Hebrew  brings  with  it — the  so-called  Keri  Ve- 
Keikib.  The  Keri  in  the  margin  nowhere  changes  the 
vowels  of  the  text.  The  margin  everywhere  testifies  to 
the  vowel-points  as  authentic.  It  is  the  consonants  in 
every  instance  that  are  changed. 

The  Vowel-points  then,  according  to  the  Scripture  as 
well  as  the  universal  Jewish  tradition,  are  an  integral  part 
of  the  text — of  the  very  handwriting  of  God.  The  Kab- 
balah (Sohar  I ;  15,  b.)  asserts  that  "  the  Towel-points 
proceeded  from  the  same  Holy  Spirit  who  indited  all  the 
sacred  Scriptures." 

Suppose  one  to  take  the  opposite  ground,  that  the  con- 
sonants alone  were  inspired  and  the  vowels,  a  human  in- 
vention, were  afterward  introduced.  Now  see  the  diffi- 
culties : 

When  ?  At  what  moment  were  they  introduced  ?  Such 
a  change  as  the  pointing  over — from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tion— of  an  unpointed  Bible  must  have  produced  among 
Christians,  as  well  as  Jews,  little  less  than  an  earthquake. 

Press  the  argument  further :  The  Points  are  in  exist- 
ence. They  are  here.  ISTot  only  do  we  have  books  writ- 
ten and  printed  without  them,  but  we  have  books  WITH 
them,  the  Great  Temple  Copy,  of  which  these  shorthand, 
ephemeral  copies  are  briefs.  Where  did  the  points  come 
from  which  are  to-day  upon  the  MSS.  considered  as 
authority  ?  those  MSS.  which  regulate  criticism  and  are 
the  unswerving  conservators  of  the  true  text  ?  The 
points  upon  those  JV1SS.,  whence  did  they  come  ? 

Press  the  argument  still  further.  It  is  said  that  the 
points  were  invented  by  the  Masorites  because  we  get 
them  from  the  Masorites,  but  the  question  echoes  and 
still  echoes,  "  Whence  did  they  get  them  ? " 

Press  the  argument  homo  to  the  wall.  It  is  said  that 
the  points  were  invented  by  the  Masorites.  It  is  said  so, 


80   TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

because  Levita  first  said  so.  But  what  did  he  know  about 
it?  Nothing.  He  stood,  as  Buxtorf  shows,  alone — a 
single  man  against  the  sentiment  and  history  of  his  whole 
nation.  His  speculation  was  built  rashly  up  on  a  conject- 
ure like  a  blind  man's  dream — upon  a  fancy,  rootless  as  a 
mushroom  growth.  There  were  several  schools  of  the 
Masorites.  Which  school  invented  the  points?  Why 
did  not  other  schools — the  jealousy  of  scholars  is  prover- 
bial— observe,  dissent,  dispute  them  ?  How  explain  the 
miracle  of  a  complete  unanimity  and  unexceptional  sub- 
jection to  the  school  of  Tiberias,  if  school  of  Tiberias  it 
was?  How  account  for  it  that  childish,  doting  Rabbins 
of  Tiberias,  "  men  more  mad  than  Pharisees,  bewitching 
with  traditions  and  bewitched,  blind,  crafty,  raging," 
should  have  shown  such  nice  Divine  composure  and  ex- 
actness as  appears  in  all  the  adaptations  of  the  points? 
"Look  at  the  men,"  says  Dr.  Lightfoot  in  his  masterly 
response  to  Walton's  Prolegomenon.  "Read  over  the 
Jerusalem  Talmud,  and  see  there  how  R.  Judah,  R.  Cha- 
ninah,  R.  floshaia,  R.  Chija  Rabba  and  the  rest  of  the 
grand  Masorites  behave  themselves.  How  earnestly  they 
labor  at  nothing ;  how  childishly  they  handle  serious  dis- 
putes, how  much  froth,  venom,  smoke — pure  nothing  in 
their  disputations.  Then  if  you  can  believe  the  pointing 
of  the  Bible  came  from  such  a  school,"  become  a  Jew 
yourself,  "  believe  also  their  Talmuds.  The  pointing  of 
the  Bible  savors  of  the  work  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
not  of  that  of  lost  and  blinded  and  besotted  men." 

To  these  considerations  let  us  add  the  following,  which 
rest  the  argument  in  a  reductio  ad  absurdum. 

Remove  the  points  from  the  text,  for  an  interval,  sav, 
of  500  years,  and  no  man  could,  from  the  consonants  only, 
make  out  the  Hebrew.  The  vowels  are  indispensable  for 
reading  and  teaching  a  language.  What  one  might  do 
with  briefs — a  skeleton — after  he  has  mastered  a  tongue  is 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  81 

one  tiling,  but  what  a  beginner  can  do  is  another.  "It 
was,"  says  Dr.  Gill,  u  the  duty  and  the  interest  of  every 
Hebrew  to  read  his  Bible,  that  being  the  charter  of  his 
salvation — a  charter  written  not  for  learned  men  only, 
but  for  the  common  people — men,  women,  and  children 
who  could  not  read  without  the  points." 

But  lastly — to  round  up  the  whole —  Vowels  are  the  life 
of  a  language — the  consonants  are  not.  The  consonants 
are  simply  stops  upon  the  breath ;  but  the  breath — Ah, 
E,  O — Ye-Ho-Vah — is  primal,  the  soul.  As  says  the 
Kdbbalah,  the  oldest  and  most  eminent  Jewish  authority, 
"  Consonants  are  the  body,  and  the  vowel-points  the  soul ; 
the  consonants  move  with  the  motion  and  stand  still  with 
the  resting  of  the  vowel-points,  just  as  an  army  moves 
after  its  sovereign."  "  Yowels,"  says  Dr.  Gill,  "  are  the 
life  and  soul  of  language.  Letters  without  them  are  in- 
deed dead  letters ;  the  consonants  stubborn,  immovable 
things  ;  they  cannot  even  be  pronounced  without  vowels, 
which  are,  as  Plato  says,  their  necessary  bond."  That, 
therefore,  the  Hebrew,  the  first  and  most  perfect  lan- 
guage of  all,  Gcd's  own  peculiar  language,  should  be 
without  them,  is  inconceivable. 

Y.  And  so  we  reach  the  fifth  and  closing  Head — the 
Casket  of  the  Gem.  The  Bible  is  its  own  self-evidence, 
not  only  in  its  Immortality — in  its  Sublime  Authority — 
in  its  Transcendent  Doctrine — in  its  Direct  Assertions — 
but  also  in  the  very  Languages  in  which  it  is  enshrined. 

Let  us  go  back  to  the  Hebrew — to  God's  language — to 
the  tongue  in  which  He  said,  u  Let  there  be  light !  "  be- 
fore there  was  a  world. 

The  oldest  languages  are  philologically  the  most  per- 
fect, and  nothing  else,  perhaps,  betrays  so  deep,  so  pa- 
thetic a  stamp  of  the  Fall  as  does  the  downward  progress 
of  the  human  tongue. 


82    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

Back  of  our  coarser  and  more  block-like  English,  we 
transfer  ourselves  to  the  French,  with  its  subtler  refine- 
ments— with  touches  of  its  hair-like  pencillings  upon  the 
shades  of  thought ;  or  with  its  buoyant  swell  and  give  to 
all  emotion,  as  elasticities  of  wave  to  sinuosities  of  shore. 

And  back  of  this  again :  in  dream-like  thrall  to  more 
melodious  cadences  of  the  Italian  tones — "  accents  whose 
law  was  beauty,  and  whose  breath  enrapturing  music." 
And  back  of  these — back  of  their  mother-Latin — to  the  in- 
finite versatility  and  grandeur  and  depth  and  comprehen- 
siveness of  the  Greek.  Greek !  in  itself  a  universe  prepared 
tor  teeming  and  for  populating  thought.  Greek!  with 
its  infinite  and  wondrous  subtleties  of  shade  in  mood  and 
tense,  its  play  of  graceful  and  innumerable  particles,  and 
cadences  like  chimes  of  air-flung  and  metallic  bells.  And, 
back,  still  back — and,  the  farther,  the  more  complicated 
and  abstruse — the  more  exacting  in  its  constructions — 
the  more  precise  in  its  articulations — the  more  attenuated 
in  its  case  and  tense  endings,  is  our  human  speech — the 
more  Divine  a  vehicle  of  wide  enfranchised  thought. 
The  Sanscrit  is  not  any  longer  like  pulley-blocks  roped 
together,  nor  like  corals  threaded  on  a  string.  Smooth 
and  pellucid  in  its  flow,  it  is  as  liquid  sunlight  dropping 
in  echoes  of  a  rhythmic  and  remote  cascade,  as  from  the 
ledges  of  an  upper  and  angelic  heaven. 

Language,  then,  the  higher  we  trace  it,  is  not  found  to 
be  a  bungling  and  mechanical  attempt  at  understanding. 
It  is  more  and  more  the  throb  of  holy  heart  to  heart — 
the  flash  of  heavenly  thought  rekindling  thought,  without 
the  chasmed  break,  without  the  filmy  veil ;  and  all  our 
dying  tongues,  down  to  the  latest,  are  but  fainter  echoes 
— fragments  of  that  earlier  and  loftier  speech,  in  which 
the  angels  spoke  to  man — Adam  to  God,  and  God  to 
Adam.  When  we  have  reached  the  beginning,  we  have 
in  possession  the  language  of  God ;  the  words  and  the 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.   83 

GRAMMAR  which  God  gave  in  Eden — which  man  has  cor- 
rupted, confounded,  lost  away  in  dialectic  dislocations 
since  the  fall. 

The  Hebrew,  like  a  prism  shattered  into  various  lights 
.  at  Babel,  is  the  matrix  of  all  other  roots  and  forms.     . 

1.  Because  in  it,  as  in  no  other,  names  are  Divinely 
expressive.     Originally,  names  are  characters  in  photo- 
graph.    They  are,  or  they  should  be,  like  labels  on  phials, 
which  describe  the  contents.     Barnes  at  the  first  were 
manifestations  of  men  and  of  things.     They  are  so  in 
Hebrew.     Adam  means  "  Earthy,"  Seth  «  Substituted," 
Noah  "  The  Consoler,"  Abraham  "  The  Father  of  Mul- 
titudes,"   Jacob     "  Supplanter,"     Moses     "  Delivered," 
"Drawn  out." 

2.  The  Hebrew  is  original,  because  in  it,  as  in  no  other, 
derivatives  are  built  upon  their  roots,  so  that  one  can 
look  through  the  derivative  straight  to  the  root,  or  back, 
so  to  say,  through  the  slides  of  the  telescope  to  the  first 
slide — the  root  notion  ruling  unswervingly  everywhere. 
Take  as  an  example,  Adam — earthy,  because  made  from 
the  earth — Isha,  "  woman,"  because  made  from  Ish,  man. 
In  other  languages  the  continuity  is  often  broken.     In 
Greek,  Anthropos,  "  man,"  has  no  relation  to  Ge,  the 
earth.     In  Latin,  muUery  or  femina,  "  woman,"  has  no 
relation  to  homo. 

3.  The  Hebrew  form  is  antecedent  to  all  similar  forms 
in  all   other  languages.     Its  root  stands  first.     This  is 
splendidly  argued  by  Scaliger  in  opposition  to  the  Maron- 
ites,  who   claimed   a  greater   antiquity  for  the   Syriac. 
What  is  the  Hebrew  for  "  king,"  says  Scaliger, — "  MELE- 
KAH."     What  is  the  Hebrew 3— «  MELEE."     Which  has 
the  root,  and  which  is  the  shorter  ?     That  settles  it. 

4:.  Because  the  language  employed  by  Adam  in  nam- 
ing the  animals  was  Hebrew,  and  that  language  was  not 


84   TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

invented  by  him  upon  the  occasion,  but  had  been  taught 
him  by  God. 

One  thing :  Because  the  names  given  to  the  animals 
imply  a  knowledge  of  their  attributes  and  characteristics. 

Another  thing:  God  had  already  been  talking  to 
Adam,  and  in  the  same  language. 

Again :  It  seems  that  the  animals  were  brought  to 
Adam  as  object-lessons,  to  see  what  he  would  call  them — 
i.  e.j  God  wished  to  see  how  accurately  Adam  would  fit 
the  name  taught  to  the  thing. 

5.  Because  language  is  called  in  Scripture,  not  only 
"Throat"  and  "Lip?  but  especially   "Tongue?  and 
it  is  said  that  God  teaches  man  this :  "  The  Lord  God 
hath   given  me  the  tongue  of  the  learned  "  (Isa.  1.  4). 
"  The  preparations  of  the  heart,"  not  only,  but  "  the  an- 
swer of  the  tongue,  is  from  the  Lord." 

6.  Because  the  whole  earth  was  once  of  one  tongue  and 
one  speech,  and  that  speech  by  common  consent  of  all 
Jewish  and  Gentile  Traditions,  the  Lingua  Sancta,  the 
Holy,  or  the  Hebrew  Tongue.     So  says  Ephodeus ;  so 
Jonathan  the  Paraphrast.     With  this  agree  the  Kabbal- 
ists,  the  Jerusalem  Talmud,  the  Book  of  Cosri,  E.  Ben 
Jarchi,  R.  Ben  Ezra,  R.  Levi  ben  Gerson — as  well  as  Je- 
rome, Ambrose,  Chrysostom,  Augustine.* 

7.  Because  God  himself  spoke  before  Adam  was  crea- 
ted, and  spoke  in  Hebrew,  calling  "  Light,"  ^-fi  Day ; 

44 Darkness/'  ftV'b  Night :  " Firmament," hifatt)  Heaven; 
T:T  •- T 

"  Dry  land,"  yng  Earth,  etc. 

Hebrew  was  the  first  language,  and  therefore  the 
most  perfect  language ;  for  "  that  which  is  perfect,"  says 
Aristotle,  "  requires  a  perfect  expression  ";  and  Adam,  be- 
ing made  very  good,  must  have  had  a  language  very,  i.e. 


See  Buxtorf,  "  De  Antiquitate  Ling.  Heb." 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  85 

perfectly  good ;  besides,  a  language  which  God  speaks, 
must  be  like  God. 

And  one  is  tempted  to  believe  agreeably  with  the  as- 
cending and  unswerving  trend  of  this  conviction — that 
deep  the  die  of  inspiration  strikes  into  the  very  structure 
of  those  languages  which  an  Infinite  Wisdom  has  deigned 
to  employ  as  its  mouthpiece. 

Let  us  not  tarry  here  upon  mysteries,  like  that  of 
the  Incarnation,  found  by  the  Kabbalists  in  the  Divine 
Tetragrammaton,  in  the  very  form  of  the  word  Jehovah 
itself,  but  take  the  verb,  the  life  of  every  language.  In 
the  Hebrew  the  conjugation  is  from  the  third  person 
down.  It  begins  with  "  He"  as  the  actor — i.  e.,  with  God 
first.  It  thus  subverts  the  carnal  languages  of  men  and 
turns  them  upside  down. 

Language,  in  its  decadence,  marking  the  steps  of  our 
apostasy  from  God,  begins  with  us  here  in  the  Occident, 
the  sunset — "  I,"  "  Thou,"  "  He," — makes  man  the  great- 
est and  God  least  and  last.  The  Hebrew,  born  when 
morning  stars  rejoiced,  reverses  this — confutes  the  spirit 
as  the  speech  of  carnal  man  and  conjugates  its  verb  Di- 
vinely down  from  God. 

Another  feature  stamped  upon  the  very  structure  of 
the  tongues  of  inspiration,  which,  taxing  your  indulgence 
here,  I  venture  to  suggest,  is  that  they  not  obscurely  hint, 
before  one  word  is  spoken,  all  the  redemptive  scheme  of 
God.  Presenting  the  Y  of  our  apostasy  and  our  recov- 
ery— down  from  the  Third  Person,  God,  to  the  lost  per- 
son, I,  in  the  Hebrew ;  then  from  the  lost  person,  "  I," 
up  again  to  the  Third  Person,  God,  in  the  Greek, — they 
further  and  even  more  strikingly  exhibit  man's  aphelion 
and  his  counter  perihelion  in  the  directions  which  they 
tdke.  Hebrew,  which  teaches  the  fall  and  departure  from 
God,  is  written  from  the  "  right  hand  where  God  works  " 
toward  the  left — from  the  sheep  to  the  goats ;  while 


86    TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF. 

Greek,  which  tells  us  of  return  and  recovery,  is  written 
the  other  way — from  the  left  to  the  right — from  the  goats 
to  the  sheep — from  the  "  wilderness  "  to  the  u  fold  " — in 
God's  thought  of  it  backward. 

Thus,  stamped  upon  the  gravements  of  its  very  casket 
— upon  the  structure  of  the  tongues  in  which  it  speaks, 
we  read  conspicuous,  self-evident^  the  truth,  that  while 
Philosophy,  the  science  of  man,  moves  forward,  Theol- 
ogy, the  science  of  God,  moves  backward — "  Philosophia 
quotidie  jpw-gressu,  Theologia  nisi  ^-gressu  non  crescit." 

Backward,  backward,  backward,  the  whole  Volume 
moves  us — not  only  nineteen  centuries  behind  the  present 
moment ;  but  back  of  time  itself  and  every  moment  into 
the  light  of  all  eternities — to  speak  the  proclamation  of  a 
Gospel  as  antique  and  as  unchangeable  as  are  the  deter- 
minate counsel  and  the  foreknowledge  of  God — for  "  Of 
Him  and  through  Him  and  to  Him,  are  all  things — to 
whom  be  the  glory,  forever.  Amen  !  " 

Brethren  :  the  danger  of  our  present  day — the  "  down- 
grade," as  it  has  been  called,  of  doctrine,  of  conviction,  of 
the  moral  sentiment — a  decline  more  constantly  patent, 
as  it  is  more  blatantly  proclaimed,  does  it  not  find  its  first 
step  in  our  lost  hold  upon  the  very  inspiration  of  the 
Word  of  God? 

Does  not  a  fresh  conviction  here,  lie  at  the  root  of  ev- 
ery remedy  which  we  desire,  as  its  sad  lack  lies  at  the 
root  of  every  ruin  we  deplore  ? 

Brethren :  a  fresh  conviction — only  that — of  the  very 
Inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God — spreading  itself  abroad 
in  the -minds  of  our  earnest  American  people,  would  wake 
— from  Maine  to  Arizona,  and  from  Florida  to  Idaho — the 
wave  of  a  revival  such  as  this  continent  has  never  known. 

Key  up  !  then — let  us  key  up  our  "  Credo  "  in  the  ab- 
soluteness of  the  word  which  God  has  spoken.  Bind 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  TO  ITSELF.  87 

again  !  Let  us  re-bind  all  cables  to  that  Anchor,  and  the 
Ship  of  destiny,  including  all  souls'  freightage,  will  again 
obey  her  rudder,  and  be  saved  from  wreck. 

The  great  question  for  every  man  is  that  of  his  per- 
sonal answer  to  the  Word,  spoken  out  of  the  skies,  of  a 
personal  God. 


BIBLE    MIEACLES. 

L.  T.  TOWNSEND,  D.D. 

UNDERLYING  all  our  discussions  of  the  Bible,  whether 
arguing  for  its  genuineness,  its  authenticity,  its  credibil- 
ity, or  its  inspiration,  is  a  subject  which  at  the  outset  de- 
mands recognition  ;  it  is  the  subject  assigned  for  the  pres- 
ent hour.  That  this  claim  is  not  extravagant  is  easily 
shown.  For  we  might,  in  the  ordinary  way  and  to  our 
satisfaction,  prove  that  the  Bible  is  all  we  claim  for  it ; 
still,  our  arguments  would  have  but  little  weight  with  un- 
believing scientific  and  logical  minds,  if  these  minds  were 
convinced  that  there  is  in  the  Bible  the  record  of  events 
purporting  to  be  true,  which,  upon  scientific  grounds, 
are  felt  to  be  impossible.  The  reasoning  is,  that  if  the 
matters  recorded  are  impossible,  they  are  incredible ;  if 
incredible,  they  completely  destroy  the  claims  of  the  Bi- 
ble as  to  its  infallibility  and  inspiration.  Hence,  unbeliev- 
ing people  who  are  acquainted  with  philosophical  and  log- 
ical methods,  will  invariably  ask  that  all  other  discussions 
relating  to  the  Bible  may  be  suspended  until  we  have 
come  to  a  somewhat  satisfactory  solution  of  those  events 
of  an  unquestioned  supernatural  character  which  fill  a 
very  large  space  in  the  sacred  volume. 

As  it  will  be  impossible,  in  the  time  before  us,  to  do 
justice  to  the  entire  subject  of  Bible  miracles,  and  as  it 
will  be  unsatisfactory  to  limit  the  discussion  to  some 
single  miracle,  we  make  a  compromise,  and  confine  atten- 
tion to  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
almost  exclusively  to  those  wrought  by  our  Lord  in  the 
presence  of  His  disciples.  But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
(88) 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  89 

that  the  same  principles  and  methods  employed  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  our  Lord's  miracles  apply  equally  well  to  all 
others,  whether  contained  in  the  New  or  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. 

Upon  careful  inquiry,  the  chief  difficulty  hanging  over 
the  subject  of  miracles  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they 
seem  to  antagonize  what  is  termed  "  the  uniformity  of  na- 
ture," which  is  said  to  be  such  as  not  to  allow  anything 
like  a  miracle  to  take  place. 

David  Hume — who,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  present- 
ed one  of  the  most  powerful  metaphysical  arguments  ever 
offered  on  either  side  of  this  subject — bases  his  reasoning, 
you  remember,  upon  the  uniformity  of  nature  as  opposed 
to  things  extraordinary.  "  A  miracle,"  he  says,  "  is  a  vio- 
lation of  the  laws  of  nature ;  and,  as  a  firm  and  unalter- 
able experience  has  established  those  laws,  the  proof 
against  a  miracle,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  is  as 
entire  as  any  argument  from  experience  can  possibly  be 
imagined." 

Benedict  Spinoza  also  brought  to  bear  upon  these  ques- 
tions a  giant  intellect;  but  likewise  built  his  argument 
upon  the  supposition  that  there  is  "an  established  uni- 
formity in  the  processes  of  nature,"  which  renders  mira- 
cles impossible.  Theodore  Parker's  position  is  essentially 
the  same :  "  I  do  not  believe  there  ever  was  a  miracle,  or 
ever  will  be  ;  everywhere  I  find  law  the  constant  mode  of 
the  operation  of  the  infinite  God."  Of  similar  character 
are  the  words  of  Ernest  Kenan:  "We  banish  miracles 
from  history  in  the  name  of  a  constant  experience." 

Certain  other  rationalists  of  late  date  have  seized  upon 
a  sentiment  of  Goethe,  and  constructed  their  theories  ac- 
cordingly. "An  audible  voice  from  heaven  could  not 
convince  me,"  says  Goethe,  "  that  water  burns ;  I  rather 
hold  this  to  be  blasphemy  against  the  great  God  and  His 
revelation  in  nature." 


90  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

A  writer  in  The  Westminster  Review  applies  this  same 
test  to  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  The  article  is  based 
upon  the  plea  that  "  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  miracle- 
working  agency  in  nature ";  the  sharp,  antithetical  con- 
clusion reached  by  the  essayist  is  this :  "  If  Christ  died, 
He  never  reappeared;  or,  if  He  reappeared.  He  never 
died." 

JSTow,  it  must  be  conceded  that  if  the  position  is  grant- 
ed that  miracles 'are  an  actual  overthrow  of  the  established 
processes  of  nature,  and  if  it  is  still  further  granted  that 
such  overthrows  are  impossible,  then  there  is  no  chance 
for  further  argument.  Only  two  propositions  of  three 
terms  each  are  needed  completely  to  demolish  the  doctrine 
of  miracles  and  to  overthrow  the  foundation  upon  which 
rests  the  entire  superstructure  of  revealed  religion.  Thus, 
a  miracle  is  a  violation  of  nature ;  a  violation  of  nature  is 
impossible ;  therefore  a  miracle  is  impossible.  Revealed 
religion  rests  upon  a  miraculous  basis ;  but  a  miraculous 
basis  is  an  impossible  basis;  therefore  revealed  religion 
rests  upon  an  impossible  basis.  Granting  the  premises, 
the  demonstration  is  overwhelming  and  unanswerable. 
Logically,  therefore,  upon  these  premises  of  Hume,  all 
the  miraculous  transactions  recorded  in  the  Bible  become 
incredible ;  the  supernatural  becomes  a  theological  dogma, 
deserving  of  no  respect  whatever ;  and  the  basis  of  Chris- 
tianity being  overthrown,  the  superstructure,  as  well  first 
as  last,  may  be  left  to  fall  to  the  ground  ;  for  in  the  end, 
fall  it  must. 

But  before  granting  the  foregoing  premises,  and  before 
abandoning  the  Christian  faith,  —  which  certainly  has 
much  that  commends  itself  to  the  world, — it  might  be 
well  to  inquire  if  these  men  who  oppose  Christianity  have 
not  assumed  in  their  arguments  some  things  which  they 
cannot  prove,  and  some  things  which  are  absolutely  false. 

It  may  be  that  the  public  has  been  deceived  by  them ; 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  91 

that  what  lias  been  thought  to  be  reasoning  is  nothing  but 
fallacy ;  that,  in  some  instances,  blatant  assertions  and  in- 
genious guesswork  have  been  palmed  off  for  science,  phi- 
losophy, and  argument. 

At  least,  these  adverse  teachings,  without  harm  to  any 
one,  now  and  then  may  be  re-examined.  Speaking  with 
perfect  frankness,  we  think  it  can  be  clearly  shown  that 
the  evangelical  view  of  miracles  is  as  yet  unimpeached ; 
that  all  the  leading  objectors  to  the  Bible  miracles  have 
held  untenable  positions ;  and  that  the  evangelical  claims 
can  be  established  as  clearly  as  any  other  matters  that  fall 
within  the  range  of  moral  demonstration. 


In  support  of  these  positions,  we  begin  with  a  very  con- 
servative statement  that  Christ's  miracles  are  probable, 
provided  they  are  possible.  Some  of  the  probabilities  in 
their  favor  are  so  apparent  that  they  need  merely  an  allu- 
sion. 

It  is  in  their  favor,  for  instance,  that  they  bear  Christ's 
name.  He  has  enthroned  Himself  completely  in  the 
realms  of  eternal  and  unreached  ideals.  He  is  the  Su- 
preme One.  His  miraculous  power  is  not  easily  separated 
from  Him.  It  seems  natural  for  Him  to  do  as  He  did. 
Everything  about  Him  is  remarkable.  It  is  no  stretch  of 
fancy  or  of  fact  to  say  that  the  greatest  miracle  of  all  is 
Christ  himself ! 

Not  long  since  we  were  deeply  impressed  while  reading 
from  Dr.  Charming,  the  father  of  American  Unitarianism, 
the  following  words :  "  I  ask  you  whether  the  character 
of  Jesus  be  not  the  most  extraordinary  in  history,  and 
wholly  inexplicable  on  human  principles  ?  He  talks  of 
His  glories  as  one  to  whom  they  were  familiar,  and  of  His 
intimacy  and  oneness  with  God  as  simply  as  a  child  speakg 
of  his  connection  with  his  parents.  I  maintain  that  this 


92  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

is  a  character  wholly  remote  from  human  conception.  I 
contemplate  it  with  a  veneration  second  only  to  the  pro- 
found awe  with  which  I  look  up  to  God.  It  was  a  real 
character.  Jesus  is  not  a  fiction.  He  is  still  the  Son  of 
God  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 

"  Till  the  end  of  time,"  says  Fichte,  "  all  the  sensible 
will  bow  before  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  acknowledge 
the  exceeding  glory  of  this  great  phenomenon." 

We  need  not  pause  to  continue  these  quotations.  The 
hour  could  be  "filled  with  them.  The  point  is  this:  that 
if  miracles  are  possible,  it  is  reasonable  to  expect,  or  in 
other  words  it  is  probable,  that  they  would  be  associated 
with  the  name  of  this  peerless  One,  who,  though  an  un- 
lettered mechanic,  living  in  an  unimportant  province  of 
the  Roman  empire,  has  revolutionized  the  ages ;  and  of 
whom,  even  Kenan  has  said,  "Amid  all  the  surprises  of 
the  future,  Jesus  will  never  be  surpassed." 

Essentially  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  connection  of 
Christianity  with  our  Lord's  miracles.  Christianity  is  a 
miracle  next  in  importance  to  Christ  himself.  Taken  as 
a  whole,  there  is  nothing  among  the  religions  of  the  world 
to  be  compared  with  it.  It  is  to-day  the  dominant  factor 
in  the  world's  progress  and  redemption,  and  is  the  only 
hope  of  the  human  race.  Hence,  if  miracles  are  possible, 
they  might  well  attend  the  inauguration  of  this  exceptional 
and  beneficent  system  of  religion. 

And,  further,  Christ's  miracles  are  found  recorded  in 
the  uniquest  and  grandest  book  in  the  world  —  a  book 
which,  in  its  influence  for  good,  rises  far  above  all  the 
other  literature  of  the  world.  But  this  Book  of  books, 
with  no  hesitation  and  with  no  form  of  apology,  records 
fully  these  wonderful  deeds  wrought  by  our  Lord. 

The  character,  too,  of  these  miracles  is  worthy  of 
note.  They  were  just  such  deeds  as  one  would  expect  at 
the  hands  of  Christ ;  just  such  deeds  as  one  would  expect 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  93 

at  the  inauguration  of  the  Christian  religion.  They  were 
deeds  of  mercy.  The  hungry  were  fed ;  the  blind  re- 
ceived their  sight ;  the  lame  walked ;  the  lepers  were 
cleansed  ;  the  deaf  were  made  to  hear ;  and  the  dead  were 
raised  to  life. 

But  again,  upon  grounds  more  strictly  philosophical,  do 
these  Bible  miracles  seem  probable.  For  if  there  is  a  God, 
and  if  He  takes  an  interest  in  His  children  ;  if  He  tries  to 
aid  them  in  their  journeys ;  if,  as  certainly  no  one  disputes, 
confidence  can  be  inspired  in  the  average  man  by  miracu- 
lous signs  and  attestations ;  and  if,  as  Bible  history  clearly 
shows,  marked  benefits  have  resulted  from  such  signs, — 
then  it  is  at  least  reasonable  to  conclude  that  upon  special 
occasions,  and  for  special  purposes,  God  would  resort  to 
miraculous  agencies,  provided  He  could  do  so;  or,  in 
other  words,  provided  such  an  event  as  a  miracle  is  pos- 
sible. 

Or,  to  be  more  specific,  extending  this  part  of  the  argu- 
ment so  as  to  cover  the  Old  Testament  miracles,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  New,  we  ask  this  question :  If  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Jewish  theocracy  in  any  considerable 
measure  depended  upon  the  working  of  miracles  before 
Pharaoh  in  Egypt,  and  before  the  Israelites  on  the  way  to 
Palestine ;  if  the  perpetuity  of  the  Jewish  religion  in  some 
considerable  measure  depended  upon  the  working  of  mir- 
acles in  connection  with  Daniel,  Elijah,  and  a  few  others ; 
and  if  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  Church  and  the 
recoguization  of  our  Lord's  divinity  during  the  first  cen- 
tury considerably  depended  upon  the  working  of  miracles 
then,  are  there  not  strong  probabilities  that  the  Creator 
would  resort,  at  just  those  critical  times,  and  not  indis- 
criminately at  other  times,  to  miraculous  interpositions,  in 
order  to  accomplish  these  and  other  benevolent  purposes  ; 
provided,  we  repeat,  that  such  an  event  as  a  miracle  is 
possible  ? 


94  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

And  in  this  connection,  the  fact  should  not  be  over- 
looked, that  the  various  objects  for  which  these  Bible  mir- 
acles were  wrought,  were  as  far  forth  accomplished  as 
could  be  expected.  That  is,  Pharaoh  allowed  Israel  to  de- 
part; Nebuchadnezzar  decreed  that  the  God  of  Daniel 
should  be  worshipped  ;  the  priests  of  Baal  were  prevented 
from  slaying  Elijah,  and  he  was  permitted  to  slay  them  ; 
the  common  people  believed  in  Christ ;  and  the  Pharisees 
were  often  struck  dumb  by  what  they  saw  and  heard,  but 
could  not  explain. 

In  view,  therefore,  of  the  character  of  Christ,  and  of 
the  character  of  Christianity,  and  of  the  character  of  the 
book  in  which  the  miracles  are  recorded,  and  in  view  of 
the  character  of  the  miracles,  and  of  the  objects  to  be 
gained  by  the  working  of  the  miracles,  and  of  the  results 
that  followed  their  working,  (what  a  magnificent  group- 
ing of  probable  evidences,  unmatched,  and  more  and  more 
unchallenged !)  may  we  not  presume  that  every  person 
present,  and  even  every  sceptic  anywhere  to  be  found,  will 
be  willing  to  place  his  feet  upon  the  lower  step  of  the  as- 
cending stairway  ;  this  extremely  conservative  step  being 
merely  this,  that  Christ's  miracles,  arid,  may  we  not  add, 
all  the  other  miracles  recorded  in  the  Bible,  owing  to  their 
reputable  surroundings,  their  lofty  character,  their  benev- 
olent purpose,  and  the  results  that  followed  their  working, 
are  probable,  provided  that  such  an  event  as  a  miracle  is 
possible  ? 

CHRIST'S  MIRACLES  ARE  CERTAIN  IF  THEY  ARE  POSSIBLE. 

The  step  next  in  order  leads  to  the  proposition  that 
Christ's  miracles  are  not  only  probable,  but  they  are  also  cer- 
tain, provided  that  such  an  event  as  a  miracle  is  possible. 

Confining  attention  for  a  moment  to  our  Lord's  mira- 
cles, their  credibility  is  found  in  the  main  to  rest  upon  the 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  95 

testimony  of  men  who,  in  their  writings,  claim  to  have 
been  His  intimate  companions. 

Four  of  these  witnesses  have  given  us,  with  almost  legal 
exactness,  separate  and  somewhat  minute  records  of  the 
things  they  saw  and  heard ;  one  of  whom,  the  third  evan- 
gelist, an  educated  physician,  deposes  and  says : 

"  Forasmuch  as  many  have  taken  in  hand  to  set  forth 
in  order  a  declaration  of  those  things  which  are  most 
surely  believed  among  us, 

"  Even  as  they  delivered  them  unto  us,  which  from  the 
beginning  w<=>re  eye-witnesses,  and  ministers  of  the  word ; 

"  It  seemed  good  to  me,  also,  having  had  perfect  under- 
standing of  all  things  from  the  very  first,  to  write  unto 
thee  in  order,  most  excellent  Theophilus : 

"  That  thou  mightest  know  the  certainty  of  those  things 
wherein  thou  hast  been  instructed." 

It  would  be  interesting,  did  time  allow,  to  study  sepa- 
rately the  character  of  these  disciples  who  have  given  their 
depositions,  and  also  the  character  of  the  Old  Testament 
writers,  and  the  character  of  those  who,  under  that  dis- 
pensation, wrought  miracles ;  but,  as  this  is  not  permitted, 
we  hasten  to  the  main  question,  which  is  this : 

Did  those  men,  and  others  who  were  associated  with 
them,  whose  moral  character  cannot  be  impeached,  whose 
competency  cannot  be  questioned,  whose  presence  on  the 
spot  no  one  denies,  and  who  sealed  their  testimony  with 
their  blood,  severally,  conjointly,  and  deliberately  falsify 
respecting  those  remarkable  events  with  which  they  were 
fully  acquainted,  which  they  claimed  to  have  seen  with 
their  eyes,  to  have  heard  with  their  ears,  and  to  have  han- 
dled with  their  hands  ?  If  Bible  miracles  are  possible,  is 
not  such  testimony  strong  proof  of  their  certainty  ? 

But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  still  further,  that  this 
testimony,  especially  as  to  Christ's  miracles,  is  corroborated 
by  outside  persons,  who,  in  some  instances,  were  hostile  to 


96  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

those  who  wrote  the  Gospels.  Those  persons  were  freely 
permitted  to  witness  the  working  of  the  miracles.  In 
some  instances  they  were  wrought  in  their  homes,  and 
upon  members  of  their  families. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  remarkable  deeds  of  our  Lord  were 
rarely  performed  in  secret;  and,  in  the  main,  this  is 
likewise  true  of  all  other  Bible  miracles.  There  were  no 
appointed  places ;  there  were  no  prepared  instruments  and 
appliances ;  the  miracles  were  wrought  without  apparent 
effort,  "  in  the  street  and  in  the  market-place,  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  on  the  sea,  and  by  the  sick  man's  bed  and  at  the  dead 
man's  bier  ";  they  were  wrought  upon  any  public  occasion, 
and  in  all  public  places  when  opportunity  permitted  or 
circumstance  required.  In  each  place,  and  at  all  times, 
men  were  challenged  to  test  and  sift  to  the  bottom  the 
things  they  saw  and  heard. 

Men  did  apply  their  tests :  they  questioned  and  cross- 
questioned  those  upon  whom  the  miracles  were  wrought. 
Our  Lord's  enemies  tracked  and  tagged  Him  day  and 
night  to  find  some  fault  or  flaw,  or  to  discover  some  trick 
of  legerdemain,  but  at  length  gave  up  all  such  efforts.  So 
overwhelming  were  the  facts  in  the  case,  that  the  Jews 
not  only  never  denied  the  public  miracles  of  our  Lord, 
but  affirmed  them ;  that  is,  they  charged  Him  with  work- 
ing them  by  magic  and  by  satanic  aid ;  and  they  publicly 
condemned  some  of  His  most  notable  miracles  because 
they  were  wrought  upon  the  Sabbath  day.  Some  of*  those 
wonderful  deeds  were  so  well  established  that  such  early 
sceptics  as  Celsus,  Julian,  and  Porphyry  found  it  impossi- 
ble to  deny  them  ;  indeed,  they  made  no  attempt  at  denial. 
Their  only  attempt  was  to  break  the  force  of  our  Lord's 
miracles  by  recounting  similar  ones  which  had  been  re- 
ported of  Persius,  Inachus,  Minos,  and  certain  others. 

Not  only  these  confessions,  but  likewise  the  conduct,  of 
those  outside  parties,  from  first  to  last,  have  all  the  suggest- 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  97 

iveness  and  significance  of  an  admission.  The  recorded 
conduct  of  the  common  people,  and  that  of  the  Pharisees, 
and  that  of  the  Roman  rulers,  were  such  as  would  be  ex- 
pected if  what  the  apostles  reported  were  true. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  Old  Testament  miracles 
have  similar  support.  That  is,  the  recorded  conduct  of 
Pharaoh  and  his  hosts,  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  his 
princes,  that  of  Belshazzar  and  his  lords,  that  of  Sennacherib 
and  his  army,  that  of  Ahab  and  the  priests  of  Baal,  were 
precisely  what  would  be  expected  if  the  supernatural  trans- 
actions which  the  Old  Testament  writers  reported  were  true. 
And  further,  that  the  Israelites  were  slaves  in  Egypt,  and 
for  some  reason  were  suddenly  emancipated,  no  one  now 
questions  ;  that  they  passed  many  years  in  what  is  termed  a 
wilderness,  without  the  ordinary  means  of  physical  support, 
has  ample  confirmation ;  that  during  their  subsequent  exile 
in  Babylon,  some  of  their  number  rose  suddenly  to  high  po- 
litical distinction,  is  now  satisfactorily  established  by  mon- 
umental history ;  and  that  in  some  manner  their  great 
prophets  obtained  knowledge  of  future  events — a  knowl- 
edge which  did  not  find  its  verification  until  centuries  af- 
terward— is  a  fact  which  no  student  of  prophecy  and  his- 
tory would  think  of  denying. 

But  these  matters  have  even  still  further  confirmation 
in  certain  commemorative  rites  and  observances. 

The  Christian  Sabbath,  the  Christian  Church,  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  are  commemorative  institutions.  They  are 
inseparably  linked  with  the  life,  the  death,  and  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ.  They  are  unaccountable  on  any  other 
grounds  than  those  which  have  been  put  forth  through  all 
the  centuries  by  the  Christian  Church,  and  they  furnish, 
therefore,  unanswerable  evidence  ;  at  least  evidence  of  such 
a  character  as  in  other  matters  would  be  regarded  as  ample 
proof  of  the  certainty  of  the  events  they  commemorate. 

But  with  your  indulgence  we  present  one  otl  ler  item  of  evi- 


98  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

dence  for  our  Lord's  miracles,  and  then,  as  lawyers  say,  we 
will  sum  up  this  part  of  the  case.  Said  a  gentleman  to  us 
not  long  since — a  gentleman  who  was  a  lawyer  by  profes- 
sion, whose  reasoning  powers  appear  to  have  been  better 
than  his  acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  religious  history : 

"  If  it  had  been  generally  known  in  Jerusalem,  as  ortho- 
dox Christianity  claims,  that  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead ;  if 
at  one  time  He  was  seen  of  more  than  five  hundred  per- 
sons, as  Paul  asserts ;  if  the  apostles  in  Christ's  name  really 
wrought  miracles,  healing  the  sick  and  raising  to  life  dead 
men  ;  and  if  there  were  such  remarkable  displays  of  power 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost  as  are  recorded  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament,— then  almost  everybody  ought  to  have  been  con- 
vinced, and  multitudes  ought  to  have  become  Christians." 

We  concede  the  force  of  this  reasoning.  For,  of  a  cer- 
tainty, if  what  is  reported  in  the  New  Testament  is  true, 
multitudes  ought  to  have  been  convinced,  and  many,  at 
least  of  the  common  people,  ought  to  have  espoused  the 
Christian  faith. 

The  pertinent  question,  therefore,  is  this :  What  are  the  his- 
toric facts  in  the  case  ?  The  answer  is,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  obstacles  and  perils  that  beset  the  path  of  those 
who  embraced  the  new  faith,  yet  such  numbers  did  become 
Christians  as  would  be  expected,  provided  the  remarkable 
events  recorded  in  the  New  Testament  actually  took  place. 

Tacitus,  the  Roman  historian,  speaking  of  the  early 
Christians,  whom  he  calls  "  detestable  criminals,"  makes 
use  of  this  language  : 

"  The  author  of  their  sect  was  Christus,  who  had  been 
executed  in  Tiberius'  time  by  the  procurator  Pontius  Pi- 
late. This  pestilential  superstition,  checked  for  a  while, 
burst  out  again,  not  only  through  Judaea,  the  first  seat  of 
the  evil,  but  even  through  Rome.  First  were  arrested 
those  who  made  no  secret  of  their  sect,  and  by  this  clew  a 
vast  multitude  of  others  also." 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  99 

Pliny,  the  friend  of  Trajan  and  Tacitus,  was  sent  to 
rule  Bithynia.  Perplexed  at  the  great  number  of  Chris- 
tians, he  wrote  to  the  Emperor  Trajan  to  know  what 
should  be  done ;  for  "  I  fear,"  he  said,  "  that  if  the  vast 
numbers  who  are  implicated  are  put  out  of  the  way,  my 
realms  will  be  depopulated." 

"  There  is  not  a  race  of  men,"  says  Justin  Martyr,  "  bar- 
barian or  Greek,  nay,  of  those  who  live  in  wagons,  or  who 
are  nomads,  or  shepherds  in  tents,  among  whom  prayers 
and  eucharists  are  not  offered  to  the  Father  and  Maker 
of  the  universe,  through  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus." 

"  The  word  of  our  Master,"  says  Clement,  "  did  not  re- 
main in  Judsea  as  philosophy  remained  in  Greece,  but  has 
been  poured  out  over  the  whole  world,  persuading  Greeks 
and  barbarians  alike,  race  by  race,  village  by  village,  every 
city,  whole  houses,  and  hearers  one  by  one ;  nay,  not  a 
few  of  the  philosophers  themselves." 

"  In  all  Greece,  and  in  all  barbarian  races  within  our 
world,"  says  Origen,  "  there  are  tens  of  thousands  who 
have  left  their  national  laws  and  customary  gods  for  the 
law  of  Moses  and  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ." 

"  If  you  do  not  believe  the  miracles,"  says  Augustine, 
"you  must  then  believe  that  the  world  was  converted 
without  miracles ;  and  this  would  be  a  miracle." 

It  thus  appears  that  just  such  results  followed  the 
events  recorded  in  the  New  Testament  as  were  demanded 
by  our  friend  the  lawyer ;  that  is,  within  a  few  years  after 
the  death  of  Christ,  vast  numbers  embraced  the  Christian 
doctrine,  holding  it  with  such  firmness  that  they  were 
willing  to  die  in  its  defence. 

We  are  thus  brought  to  the  summing  up  of  this  second 
step  in  the  general  argument,  which,  in  its  application  to 
the  miracles  of  Christ,  though  at  nearly  every  point  it 
equally  applies  to  all  other  Bible  miracles,  is  this : 

First,  it  would  be  remarkable  if  a  single  intelligent  and 


100  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

honest  witness,  with  many  motives  to  declare  the  truth, 
and  with  no  motive  to  utter  a  falsehood,  should  neverthe- 
less prefer,  even  at  great  personal  peril,  to  utter  many 
improbable  falsehoods.  But  repeatedly  was  this  the  case, 
unless  the  New  Testament  writers  and  the  friends  of  Christ 
believed  the  miraculous  events  recorded. 

Second^  it  would  be  still  more  remarkable  if  several 
competent,  intelligent,  and  pious  eye-witnesses  should  con- 
jointly, and  at  great  personal  peril,  utter  improbable  false- 
hoods, and  utter  them  in  opposition  to  all  the  ordinary 
motives  governing  humanity.  But  such  precisely  was  the 
case,  unless  the  New  Testament  writers  saw,  or  had  the 
conviction  that  they  saw,  those  facts  which  they  have  tes- 
tified to  and  recorded  ;  and  convictions  strong  as  were 
theirs  are  not  easily  accounted  for  except  upon  the  sup- 
position that  the  facts  had  been  witnessed.  These  convic- 
tions, unless  the  facts  are  true,  are  well-nigh  as  unaccount- 
able as  are  the  miracles. 

Third)  it  would  be  still  more  remarkable,  and  well-nigh 
incredible,  if  such  improbable  falsehoods  were  confirmed 
by  the  direct  and  indirect  testimony  and  confessions  of 
those  who  were  acknowledged  enemies  of  our  Lord  and 
His  apostles ;  and 

Fourth)  it  would  be  still  more  remarkable — indeed, 
no  terms  are  strong  enough  to  express  the  height  of 
the  improbability — if  such  supposed  falsehoods,  uttered 
by  good  men  at  great  personal  peril,  were  also  supported 
by  existing  civil  and  religious  rites  and  institutions  com- 
memorative of  these  events.  But  such,  nevertheless,  un- 
questionably is  the  startling  improbability,  unless  it  is  ad- 
mitted that  the  New  Testament  writers  testified  correctly. 

Now,  it  must  be  confessed  that  these  amazing  improb- 
abilities squarely  confront  those  who  deny  the  truthfulness 
of  the  events  testified  to  by  the  apostles. 

Standing  by  the  ocean,  one  piece  of  seaweed  floating 


BIBLE  MIRAC££S. 

past  would  hardly  attract  attention  ;  much  less  would  it 
enable  one  to  make  an  unquestionable  induction  as  to  the 
tides.  But  when  for  five  or  six  hours  nearly  every  piece 
of  seaweed,  stick,  and  odd  waif  moves  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, then  we  confidently  say,  "  The  tides  are  at  work." 

Thus,  if  some  one  man — a  stranger,  perhaps, — should 
report  an  unheard-of  and  remarkable  event,  we  might 
question  it.  But  when  scores  of  men,  who  in  other  re- 
spects have  proved  themselves  worthy  of  belief,  affirm  un- 
der the  most  solemn  circumstances,  and  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  that  a  given  event  took  place  under  their  eye- 
sight, and  when  every  conceivable  circumstance  in  any 
way  related  to  that  event  strongly  corroborates  it,  then 
ought  not  this  tide-flow  of  testimony  and  of  affairs,  at  least 
in  the  judgment  of  thoughtful  men,  utterly  to  sweep 
away  all  preconceived  objections  as  to  the  certainty  of  the 
JSTew  Testament  miracles,  provided,  we  repeat,  that  a  mir- 
acle is  a  scientific  possibility  ?  Indeed,  might  not  one  dis- 
credit the  evidences  of  the  tides  as  well  as  the  evidences 
of  Christ's  miracles  1 

Or,  presenting  the  case  in  still  another  form,  we  ask 
what  would  be  thought  of  a  jury  of  twelve  men  who 
would  render  a  verdict  against  the  most  solemn  deposi- 
tions of  some  of  the  noblest  men  who  have  ever  walked 
the  earth,  depositions  confirmed  by  a  continuous  array  of 
corroborative  evidence  such  as  we  have  presented  ?  We 
venture  the  statement,  that  if  any  lawyer  should  present  a 
case  supported  by  such  evidence  to  twelve  men ;  if  he 
should  also  clearly  prove  to  those  men  that  the  events 
testified  to  were  scientifically  possible ;  and  if  those  men, 
in  the  face  of  such  corroborated  testimony,  should  return 
a  verdict  not  in  accordance  with  the  evidence  presented, 
that  lawyer  and  that  court  would  be  appalled. 

The  lawyers  in  that  court-room  who  were  acquainted 
with  the  acknowledged  laws  of  evidence,  would  look  into 


102  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

one  another's  faces  bewildered ;  the  judge  on  the  "bench 
would  refuse  to  believe  his  eyes  and  ears.  After  a  few 
moments'  silence,  he  might  well  dismiss  the  court  with 
this  single  injunction  :  "  Gentlemen,  you  are  discharged  ; 
the  mission  of  all  civil  courts  on  earth  is  ended."  We  in- 
sist, therefore,  that  the  magnificent  weight  of  this  testi- 
mony from  the  lips  and  pens  of  truthful  and  intelligent 
eye-witnesses,  confirmed  by  enemies,  confirmed  by  monu- 
mental rites,  confirmed  by  civil  and  religious  observances, 
confirmed  by  contemporaneous  history,  confirmed  by  co- 
ordinate transactions,  which  took  place  in  different  parts  of 
the  Roman  empire,  is  matched  by  no  evidence  which  has 
ever  yet  been  adduced  in  support  of  any  other  fact,  or  any 
other  grouping  of  facts,  found  recorded  in  human  history. 
Such,  my  hearers,  is  the  chain  of  evidence  as  yet  un- 
broken by  ancient  or  modern  sceptics,  which  the  Christian 
Church  presents  to  the  world  in  support  of  the  certainty 
of  Christ's  miracles. 

THE   MIKACLES   OF   CHRIST   ARE   POSSIBLE. 

The  first  step  in  this  argument  is,  that  Christ's  miracles 
&TQ  probable  if  they  are  possible.  The  second  step  is,  that 
Christ's  miracles  are  certain  if  they  are  possible.  The  po- 
sition now  reached  is  the  third  step  in  the  ascending  stair- 
way,— a  position  upon  which  all  that  has  preceded  is  left 
to  stand  or  fall, — and  is  this :  the  miracles  of  Christ  are 
possible. 

Whether  miracles  are  violations  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
as  is  claimed  by  not  a  few  writers  upon  this  subject,  or 
whether  they  are  only  violations  of  the  recognized  order 
of  nature,  as  is  claimed  by  several  noted  theologians,  are 
questions  relatively  unimportant ;  they  are  technical  rather 
than  vital ;  they  are  questions  never  raised  by  our  Lord  or 
His  disciples. 

That  which  one  is  called  upon  to  establish  in  this  dis- 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  103 

cussion  is  not,  therefore,  a  satisfactory  definition  of  mira- 
clee,  but  the  presentation  of  evidence  that  certain  deeds 
which,  have  been  called  miracles — those  of  absolute  control, 
as  when  at  the  word  of  Christ  the  sea  became  as  a  pave- 
ment and  the  tempest  as  a  child  of  obedience ;  or  those  of 
creative  power,  as  when,  at  the  word  of  Christ,  five  thou- 
sand men,  besides  women  and  children,  without  visible 
supply,  were  abundantly  fed ;  or  those  of  healing  the  sick 
and  of  raising  the  dead — were  actually  wrought  by  our 
Lord.  The  point  of  vital  issue  is  this :  If  these  deeds  can 
l^e  shown  to  be  possible,  then  the  question  whether  or  not 
they  are  miracles,  and  the  question  whether  or  not  mira- 
cles are  possible,  will  take  care  of  themselves. 

We  may  be  a  little  more  explicit,  applying  this  thought 
to  the  Old  as  well  as  to  the  JS~ew  Testament  miracles :  If 
one  can  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea  were  so  parted  as  to  make  a  wall  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left,  and  that  the  parting  and  water-walls  were 
such  that  the  Israelites  could  pass  over  the  sea-bed  dry- 
shod  ;  or  if  one  can  prove  beyond  question  that  the  whole 
celestial  machinery  was  arrested  for  nearly  a  day,  so  that 
there  was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it ;  or  if  one 
can  prove  that  Elijah  called  down  fire  from  heaven,  and 
that  the  water  in  the  trenches  about  the  altar  burst  out  in 
flames  and  burned  dry ;  or  if  one  can  prove  with  perfect 
clearness  that  Jesus  was  dead,  that  He  lay  dead  in  His 
grave  until  the  third  day  after  His  interment,  that  He 
afterward  willed  Himself  to  life  and  with  a  mutilated 
body  walked  among  His  disciples  for  forty  days ;  then, 
we  repeat,  despite  any  number  of  philosophic  definitions, 
common  sense  will  be  perfectly  satisfied  that  miracles  are 
possible  and  that  miracles  have  been  wrought. 

The  attitude  of  the  believer  and  of  the  unbeliever  to- 
ward each  other  can  now  very  easily  be  stated. 

Says  the  man  of  faith :  "  I  believe  the  miracles  of  the 


104  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

Bible  because  of  their  character,  and  because  they  are  well 
authenticated  by  testimony  and  monuments." 

But  the  objector  replies :  "  I  do  not  believe  those  mira- 
cles because,  by  universal  admission,  they  are  '  violations 
of  fixed  laws,'  or  they  are  '  effects  contrary  to  the  estab- 
lished constitution  of  things,'  and  are,  therefore,  impossi- 
ble and  incredible." 

The  man  of  faith  continues :  "  I  believe  the  mir- 
acles of  the  Bible,  and  I  believe  them  because  they  are 
probable,  and  because  they  are  firmly  authenticated,  and 
also  because  certain  events  have  taken  place  in  the  history 
of  the  universe,  which,  at  the  time  they  took  place,  were 
just  as  i  contrary  to  the  established  constitution  of  things,' 
and  were  just  as  '  manifest  violations  of  the  operations  of 
the  known  laws  of  nature,'  as  are  the  miraculous  transac- 
tions recorded  in  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments." 

The  closing  rejoinder  of  the  unbeliever  is  this  :  "  If  it 
can  be  clearly  proved  that  anything  has  happened  in  the 
universe  that  is  as  contrary  to  the  established  constitution 
or  course, of  things  as  are  Bible  miracles,  then  I  will  ac- 
cept those  miracles  upon  the  evidence  presented." 

Again  the  believer  answers :  u  I  will  present  proof  that 
is  clear,  ample,  and  unanswerable,  that  such  events  have 
taken  place,  or  else  I  will  surrender  the  entire  argument." 

And  I  appeal  to  you,  my  hearers,  if  in  this  statement 
the  believer  has  not  put  his  case  fairly  and  reasonably. 

We  are,  therefore,  henceforth  to  search  simply  for  es- 
tablished facts.  As  our  time  is  limited,  we  need  not  take  a 
broad  sweep,  though  there  is  no  end  to  the  facts  that  could 
be  employed  for  our  purpose,  but  will  confine  attention  to 
the  advent  of  man  and  woman  on  the  earth.  In  a  word, 
there  was  a  time  when  not  a  man  could  be  found  here. 
Not  a  bone,  not  a  solitary  relic  of  man  can  be  found  after 
reaching  certain  boundary  lines  in  geological  history. 

Indeed,  there  was  a  time  when  man  could  no  more  have 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  105 

lived  on  the  earth  than  he  can  now  live  in  a  furnace  where 
iron  is  boiling  hot.  There  is,  therefore,  no  denying  the 
statement  that  the  appearance  of  man  on  the  earth  was 
something  contrary  to  the  then  existing  order  of  things. 
Indeed,  in  some  respects  the  origin  of  man  on  the  earth  is 
the  oddest  thing  that  ever  has  happened,  and,  in  some  re- 
spects, is  the  miracle  of  miracles.  The  origin  of  man  is 
at  least  the  most  unaccountable  riddle  which  modern  sci- 
ence has  undertaken  to  solve ;  and,  seemingly,  science  is 
no  nearer  solving  that  riddle  than  she  was  fifty  years  ago. 

And  the  creation  of  the  first  woman  is  full  as  puzzling 
to  the  sceptical  scientist  as  is  the  creation  of  the  first  man. 
The  troublesome  difficulty  is  thus  stated  : 

There  could  have  been  no  first  child  without  a  woman ; 
and  there  could  have  been  no  first  woman  unless  she  had 
grown  from  a  child,  or  had  been  full  formed  by  supernat- 
ural power.  The  first  child,  or  the  first  full-grown  woman, 
were  interruptions  in  the  then  existing  order  of  things. 
Once  they  were  not  here ;  afterward  they  were  here,  and 
are  now  here.  And  we  defy  the  whole  world  of  science 
to  throw  a  solitary  ray  of  light  upon  the  creation  of  the 
first  man  or  the  first  woman  apart  from  creation  by  super- 
natural interposition.  The  creation  of  the  first  man 
and  woman  is  one  of  the  solid  granite  walls  against 
which  infidelity  will  yet  beat  its  brains  out,  provided  it 
continues  to  make  its  assaults  upon  the  scientific  possi- 
bility of  Bible  miracles. 

"Oh,  no;  you  are  going  too  far,"  some  one  replies. 
"  The  creation  or  origin  of  things  is  easily  accounted  for 
upon  naturalistic  grounds.  The  earth  was  evolved  ;  then 
vegetable  life  came  by  spontaneous  generation ;  then  lower 
forms  of  animal  life  were  evolved  from  vegetable  life ; 
and  then  the  higher  animals  and  man,  without  any  mirac- 
ulous interposition,  were  in  an  orderly  way  evolved  from 
the  lower  animals." 


106  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

Now,  even  if  these  claims  were  admitted,  still  the  argu- 
ment in  hand  would  retain  largely  its  force  :  for  vegetable 
life,  which  once  was  not,  afterward  was ;  and  animal  life, 
which  once  was  not,  afterward  was ;  and  man,  who  once 
was  not,  afterward  was. 

Here,  therefore,  in  the  then  existing  and  apparently  es- 
tablished constitution  of  things,  were  breaks  and  interrup- 
tions, three  of  them  perfectly  distinct  from  one  another 
so  far  as  science  can  judge  ;  and  they  were  of  a  character 
such  that  no  human  mind  could  have  anticipated  either  of 
them.  No  deeds  wrought  by  our  Lord  were  matters  of 
more  surprise  than  was  the  appearance  on  the  earth  of 
vegetable  life,  or  of  animal  life,  or  of  human  lif e.  Hence,  if 
the  unbeliever  insists  that  the  coming  of  life  on  earth  was 
a  natural  evolution  at  the  time  it  came,  then  all  the  be- 
liever need  say  in  reply  is,  that  the  miracles  of  Christ, 
which  are  no  more  wonderful  than  the  origin  of  life,  were 
also  a  natural  evolution  at  the  time  they  were  wrought. 
In*  other  words,  the  hypothesis  that  the  New  Testament 
miracles  were  the  product  of  a  natural  evolution  at  the 
hands  of  Christ  has  for  its  support  every  scientific  fact  and 
every  form  of  argument  that  can  be  employed  in  support 
of  the  hypothesis  that  the  origin  of  life  is  the  product  of  a 
natural  evolution.  Therefore,  the  integrity  of  the  Bible 
account  of  the  miracles  of  Christ  (and  essentially  the  same 
may  be  said  of  the  Old  Testament  miracles),  upon  the 
ground  of  their  impossibility,  cannot  be  questioned  by  any 
advocate  of  evolution  and  natural  selection,  without  endan- 
gering the  foundations  upon  which  he  is  seeking  to  build  his 
superstructure,  which  is  antagonistic  to  revealed  religion. 

But  in  this  concession  we  have  granted  to  the  unbe- 
liever, for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  far  more  than  is 
needful.  For,  in  the  light  of  recent  thought,  these  claims 
of  spontaneous  generation  and  evolution  by  natural  selec- 
tion, upon  which  materialism  is  entirely  dependent,  are 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  107 

nothing  but  the  merest  unauthorized  assumption.  It  is 
guesswork  in  the  face  of  stupendous  difficulties.  There 
is  not  a  man  of  science  on  earth  to-day  who  claims  that 
there  is  a  particle  of  reliable  evidence  that  life  originally 
came  into  this  world  through  spontaneous  generation.  The 
assumption  has  been  made,  but  the  evidence  is  utterly  want- 
ing. Nor  is  there  a  noted  man  of  science  anywhere  to  be 
found,  deist,  atheist,  or  agnostic,  who  claims  that  there  is 
a  shred  of  evidence  that  life  has  ever  appeared  on  this 
earth  except  through  the  presence  of  antecedent  life. 

The  distinguished  advocates  of  spontaneous  generation, 
one  after  another,  have  been  completely  silenced.  The 
unbelieving  scientist,  with  shortened  breath  and  with 
blanched  cheek,  can  see  at  present  one  alternative — only 
one — divine  interposition  or  spontaneous  generation ! 
But  the  closing  words  of  Professor  Tyiidall's  lecture  on 
"  The  Origin  of  Life,"  before  the  Royal  Institute  at  Lon- 
don, leave  at  present  no  alternative ;  and  the  intelligent  sci- 
entist now  stands  face  to  face  with  divine  interposition, 
and  nothing  else.  "  This  discourse,"  says  the  professor, 
"  is  but  a  summing  up  of  eight  months'  incessant  labor. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  inquiry,  there  is  not 
a  shadow  of  evidence  of  spontaneous  generation.  There 
is,  on  the  contrary,  overwhelming  evidence  against  it. 
....  I  am  led  inexorably  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the 
lowest  as  in  the  highest  organized  creatures,  the  method 
of  nature  is,  that  life  shall  be  the  issue  of  antecedent  life." 

But  this  admission  and  conclusion  of  Professor  Tyndall 
call  for  the  interposition  of  the  Author  of  all  life ;  and  the 
moment  His  interposition  is  admitted,  then  every  difficulty 
vanishes,  and  the  path  of  every  true  believer  is  as  bright  as 
sunlight  can  make  it.  For,  if  divine  interposition  can  make 
a  world,  then  divine  interposition  can  control  it  and  all  its 
affairs  after  it  is  made ;  if  divine  interposition  amid  primeval 
darkness  can  call  into  existence  a  universe  of  flames  (u  star- 


108  BIBLE  MIRACLES. 

stuff"),  then  divine  interposition  can  send  flames  from  the 
sky  to  light  the  altar  built  by  Elijah ;  if  divine  interposi- 
tion can  fashion  and  send  forth  every  planet  and  every 
star  on  its  stupendous  journey,  and  can  bind  star  and 
planet  in  their  courses,  and  can  arrest  in  their  develop- 
ment astronomical  and  geological  epochs,  then  divine  in- 
terposition can  arrest  other  processes,  and  cause  the  sun  to 
stand  still  over  Gibeon,  and  the  moon  over  the  valley  of 
Aijalon  ;  if  divine  interposition  can  stir  the  winds  of  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  then  divine  interposition  can  hush  them 
when  they  are  stirred ;  if  divine  interposition  can  build 
healthy  physical  tissues  in  our  hodies,  then  divine  interpo- 
sition can  restore  them  to  health  when  they  are  sick  of 
fever  or  palsy  ;  if  divine  interposition,  out  of  crude  ma- 
terials, can  build  an  eye  so  that  it  can  see,  then  divine  in- 
terposition can  give  sight  to  that  eye  after  it  has  become 
blind ;  if  divine  interposition  can,  from  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  build  a  human  body,  and  animate  it,  and  present 
to  the  world  its  Adam,  divine  interposition  can  reanimate 
the  full-formed  and  dead  body  of  Lazarus  and  present  it 
to  his  weeping  sisters. 

The  question,  therefore,  as  to  miracles  is  not,  at  the 
present  date,  one  of  possibility.  The  only  question  is 
this  :  Were  there  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Jewish  relig- 
ion, and  at  certain  critical  periods  in  the  history  of  that 
religion,  and  were  there  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  purposes  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  justify 
divine  interposition  ?  When  that  question  is  -settled,  the 
whole  matter  as  to  miracles  is  settled.  And  your  judg- 
ment, my  Christian  brother,  on  the  question  whether  it 
were  wise  for  God  to  interpose  and  work  miracles  in  the 
interest  of  the  Jewish  and  of  the  Christian  religions,  is  of 
just  as  much  value  as  is  the  judgment  of  David  Hume, 
Benedict  Spinoza,  Thomas  Paine,  Theodore  Parker,  or 
Robert  Ingersoll. 


BIBLE  MIRACLES.  109 

Are  we  through  ?  Nearly,  but  not  quite.  For  there  is 
one  straw  that  extreme  scepticism  will  struggle  to  clutch 
before  sinking.  It  is  this :  though  the  hope  of  establish- 
ing the  hypothesis  of  spontaneous  generation  has  for  years 
been  a  vanishing  one,  now  altogether  extinguished  in 
the  minds  of  the  most  scientific  men,  still,  "  maybe,"  u  per- 
haps," as  one  noted  writer  on  scientific  matters  lately  has 
reasoned,  science  will  yet  discover  a  way  of  producing 
life  by  spontaneous  generation.  O  Science !  are  you 
reduced  to  such  straits  ?  "  Maybe,"  "  perhaps,"  on  the 
lips  of  modern  science  is  nonsense.  When  science  will 
present  something  beside  such  groundless  vagaries,  we  will 
listen  ;  not  till  then. 

The  entire  scope  of  the  discussion  is  now  fully  before 
us,  and  is  this : 

First.  Christ's  miracles  (we  confine  the  conclusion  to 
His  miracles,  because,  in  the  main,  the  argument  has  had 
reference  to  those  rather  than  to  the  miracles  of  the  Old 
Testament),  owing  to  their  lofty  character,  their  noble  ob- 
ject, their  beneficent  results,  and  their  connection  with 
Christ  and  Christianity,  2HQ  probable  if  they  are  possible. 

Second.  Christ's  miracles,  owing  to  the  massive  chain 
of  evidence  in  their  support,  consisting  of  testimony,  tra- 
ditions, monuments,  and  perpetuated  observances,  are 
credible  if  they  are  possible. 

Third.  That  Christ's  miracles  are  possible  is  a  scientific 
fact  placarded  upon  every  new  order  of  things  that  has 
come  into  this  universe  since  the  dawn  of  light.  There- 
fore, Christ's  miracles  are  possible,  and  they  are  probable, 
and  they  are  certain. 

I  could  wish,  at  this  point,  that  the  great  Cicero  were 
here ;  for,  in  view  of  the  facts  existing  on  every  hand,  he, 
with  an  eloquence  grand,  like  that  of  yonder  sea,  would 
say  to  the  little  sceptics  and  to  the  blatant  scoffers  of  this 
city  and  everywhere  :  "  There  is  the  argument  in  support 
of  the  miracles  of  Christ ;  take  it,  and  break  it  if  you  can." 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION. 

WILLIAM   DINWIDDIE,  D.D. 

GOD  hath  spoken  to  us  in  His  works  of  creation. 
"  Through  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  things  which  are 
seen  were  not  made  of  things  which  do  appear  "  (Heb.  xi. 
3).  "  By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made ; 
and  all  the  host  of  them  by  the  breath  of  His  mouth." 
"  For  He  spake,  and  it  was  done ;  He  commanded,  and  it 
stood  f ast "  (Ps.  xxxiii.  6,.  9).  "  The  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God ;  and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handywork. 
Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  show- 
eth knowledge.  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where 
their  voice  is  not  heard.  Their  line  is  gone  out  through 
all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world  " 
(Ps.  xix.  1-4).  "  For  the  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the 
creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by 
the  tilings  that  are  made,  even  His  eternal  power  and  God- 
head "  (Rom.  i.  20).  The  creation  is  not  now  the  scene 
of  order  and  beauty  that  it  was  when  it  came  fresh  from 
the  hands  of  the  Beneficent  Creator.  It  is  made  subject 
to  vanity,  and  the  whole  of  it  groan eth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together  until  now,  in  earnest  expectation  awaiting 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  when  the  creation 
itself  also  shall  be  delivered  into  the  liberty  of  the  glory 
of  the  children  of  God.  Still,  even  in  its  present  condi- 
tion, it  gives  such  manifestation  of  God  as  to  leave  men 
without  excuse  in  their  sin  (Rom.  i.  20 ;  viii.  19-22). 

God  hath  also  spoken  to  us  by  His  Son,  by  Him  who  is 
(110) 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION.          Ill 

the  Word.  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  "Word,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same 
was  in.  the  beginning  with  God  "  (John  i.  1,  2).  "  And 
the  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  be- 
held His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the 
Father)  full  of  grace  and  truth."  "  No  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time ;  the  only-begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared  Him "  (John  i. 
U,  18). 

And  this  declaration  or  manifestation  is  clearer  and 
fuller  than  that  made  in  the  creation.  For  the  Son  by 
whom  God  hath  spoken  to  us  in  these  last  days  is  the 
brightness  of  His  glory  and  the  express  image  of  His  per- 
son. He  said  of  Himself,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath 
seen  the  Father." 

In  the  third  place,  God  hath  spoken  to  us  in  His  written 
Word,  the  Scriptures,  which  not  only  tell  us  of  His  power 
and  Godhead,  and  of  His  glory  as  embodied  in  His  Son, 
but  they  express  to  us  in  the  language  of  men,  with  all 
the  impressiveness  to  us  of  human  speech,  and  with  great 
amplitude  of  detail,  who  God  is,  what  He  has  done,  and 
what  He  will  do  according  to  the  purposes  of  His  own 
most  wise,  gracious,  loving,  and  holy  will  in  execution  of 
plans  as  comprehensive  as  the  universe  and  reaching 
from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  unto  and 
through  the  ages  to  come.  In  this  precious  treasure 
committed  to  our  keeping  for  our  guidance  and  the  sus- 
tenance of  our  spiritual  life,  men  of  every  class  and  con- 
dition of  life,  widely  separated  in  time  and  place,  kings, 
statesmen,  warriors,  poets,  orators,  prophets,  priests,  plough- 
men, fishermen,  sailors,  masters,  servants,  men,  women, 
and  children,  doctors,  rustics,  are  all  used  through  the 
mighty  energies  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  declare  to  us  the 
wonderful  works  and  ways  of  God. 


112          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

It  is  the  same  God,  the  one  only  living  and  true  God, 
who  speaks  to  us  in  all  these  ways.  It  is  God  with  whom 
iis  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning,  the  same  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting.  And,  therefore,  all  these  mani- 
festations of  Himself,  made  by  Himself,  must  be  in  per- 
.feet  harmony.  Whatever  we  find  revealed  to  us  of  the 
works  and  ways  of  God  in  creation,  must  be  in  complete 
accord  with  what  is  declared  to  us  about  Him  by  His  Son, 
and  with  all  that  is  written  about  Him  in  the  God-breathed 
Scriptures  of  truth. 

When,  therefore,  the  scientist,  fresh  from  the  study  of 
some  part  of  the  creation,  propounds  a  theory  which  seems 
to  be  in  contradiction  to  what  the  Scriptures  teach,  let  the 
children  of  God  possess  their  souls  in  calmness,  and  pa- 
tience, and  faith.  Shall  the  children  of  the  God  of  truth 
who  hold  from  Him  the  Scriptures  of  truth  not  be  always 
ready  to  welcome  truth,  new  or  old,  from  any  quarter  ? 
Only  let  them  be  sure  that  it  is  the  truth  which  they  wel- 
come. If  new  truth  has  been  discovered  by  any,  it  cannot 
possibly  contradict  any  word  of  Scripture.  Let  God's 
children  have  a  simple  but  sublime  confidence  in  the  final 
triumph  of  His  Word  over  every  attack  against  it,  covert 
or  open,  from  men  in  their  ignorance  and  folly,  or  from 
Satan  with  his  plausible  insinuations  and  denials  begun  in 
Eden. 

And  if  we  have  imported  into  Scripture  our  own 
thoughts,  instead  of  receiving  from  it  God's  thoughts, 
we  ought  to  be  thankful  to  any  one  who  should  dispos- 
sess us  of  our  prejudices  and  misconceptions. 

The  history  of  geological  theories  furnishes  many  illus- 
trations of  this  point.  Theory  after  theory  has  been  given 
forth  to  the  world,  with  abundance  of  self-confidence  and 
pretension,  only  to  be  displaced  and  laid  aside  in  a  short 
time  as  mere  rubbish  to  be  looked  at  occasionally  as  a  part 
of  the  history  of  human  thought,  as  curious  and  amusing 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION.          H3 

as  the  frantic  efforts  of  the  Ptolemaic  system  to  explain 
the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

Remember  what  progress  has  been  made  in  the  sciences, 
of  geography,  astronomy,  and  geology.  At  almost  every 
step  in  new  discovery  many  defenders  of  Scripture  have 
been  thrown  into  panic  for  fear  the  foundations  should  be 
destroyed.  But  the  eternal  rock  of  God's  truth  still  rises 
in  solid  strength  and  majesty  above  all  the  waves  and 
storms  of  controversy.  And  so  will  it  continue  to  the 
end,  for  He  hath  said :  "  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  the 
glory  of  man  as  the  flo\ver  of  grass.  The  grass  with- 
ereth  and  the  flower  thereof  falleth  away,  but  the  word  of 
the  Lord  endureth  forever." 


WHAT   IS    THE    REAL   WOED    OF    GOD? 

This  question  ought  to  have  a  fair,  clear,  and  distinct 
answer.  Doubtless  God  has  exercised  a  special  provi- 
dence in  regard  to  His  Word  which  is  so  important  and 
precious  a  treasure  to  His  dear  children.  But  as  a  matter  of 
fact  we  know  that  He  has  not  wrought  a  perpetual  miracle 
in  making  every  copy  of  the  original  Scriptures,  and  every 
translation  to  be  infallibly  accurate.  This  treasure  has  been 
in  earthen  vessels.  We  know,  for  example,  that  there  are 
various  readings  in  the  manuscripts.  It  is  wonderful  that 
all  of  them  together  impair  no  vital  doctrine.  We  know, 
too,  that  the  Septuagint  version  which  was  in  common 
use  and  quoted  by  the  apostles,  is  far  from  being  an  accu- 
rate version  of  the  Hebrew.  But  we  can  bless  God  that 
this  and  any  version  which  has  ever  had  currency,  has 
enough  of  accuracy  to  retain  the  life-giving  power  of  God's 
Word  so  as  to  guide  those  who  devoutly  received  it  into 
the  way  of  life. 

As  a  foundation,  then,  for  the  true  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  wise  Christian  will  gladly  and  fearlessly 


114:         PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION. 

avail  himself  of  all  help  from  manuscripts,  versions,  quota- 
tions, and  commentaries,  to  put  himself,  after  the  most 
searching  inquisition,  in  possession  of  the  original  text,  as 
nearly  as  may  be,  and  when  the  text  is  thus  ascertained  on 
the  same  principles  as  he  would  ascertain  the  text  of  any 
other  ancient  writing,  let  him  sit  down  with  such  loving 
reverence  to  study  and  receive  it,  as  becomes  man  and 
gives  due  honor  to  God,  the  author. 

We  learn  from  the  Scriptures  themselves  what  they  are. 
They  tell  us  that  they  are  inspired,  "  God-breathed "; 
"  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  David  in  his  last  words  said,  "  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  spake  by  me,  and  His  word  was  in  my  tongue" 
(2  Sam.  xxiii.  2).  Isaiah  had  written  of  revelations  not 
fully  understood  by  him  (1  Pet.  i.  10-12).  "  Eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him."  Of  these  same  things,  Paul,  with  the 
larger  measure  of  the  Spirit  belonging  to  this  age,  the 
age  of  the  Church,  says :  "  But  God  hath  revealed  them 
unto  us  by  His  Spirit :  for  the  Spirit  searcheth  all  things, 
yea,  the  deep  things  of  God.  For  what  man  knoweth  the 
things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him  ? 
even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man  (literally,  no 
one),  but  the  Spirit  of  God.  Now  we  have  received,  not 
the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit  which  is  of  God ; 
that  we  might  know  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us 
of  God.  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  the  words 
which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
teacheth ;  comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual *'  (or 
" communicating  spiritual  things  by  spiritual  means")  (1 
Cor.  ii.  10-13). 

That  is  to  say,  the  full  revelation  of  the  Scriptures  in 
this  age  of  the  Church  is  the  thoughts  of  the  Omniscient 
Spirit  Himself  revealed  to  the  writers  of  Scriptures,  un- 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION.          115 

derstood  by  them  fully  as  having  the  mind  of  Christ,  and 
communicated  to  us  by  them  not  in  words  of  their  own 
selection,  but  in  words  of  perfect,  divine  fitness,  because 
chosen  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Let  us  take  apart  and  look  distinctly  at  the  truths  given 
us  by  the  Spirit  in  this  wonderful  Scripture. 

1.  No  one  knows  the  things  of  God  but  the  Spirit  of 
God.     He  knows  them  perfectly. 

2.  He  reveals  them  to  those  whom  He  appoints  to  com- 
municate them. 

3.  Those  to  whom  they  are  so  revealed  in  this  age, 
know  them  when  so  revealed.     Not  as  the  prophets  of  old 
who  searched  diligently  to  understand  what  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  which  was  in  them  signified  by  His  revelations  sur- 
passing all  that  had  entered  into  man's  heart. 

4:.  Those  chosen  for  this  purpose  communicate  these 
revelations  to  God's  people  in,  words  of  human  speech,  yet 
not  of  their  own  choosing,  but  chosen  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"What  a  rock  of  defence  and  security  for  the  truth  and  in- 
tegrity of  the  Scriptures  amid  all  the  waves  and  storms  of 
doubt  and  unbelief  and  cavil ! 

What  difficulty,  therefore,  can  there  be  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Scriptures  thus  given  to  us  from  God  ?  They 
are  written  in  the  language  of  men,  in  words  of  the  Spirit's 
choosing,  and  therefore  of  divine  fitness.  Men,  with  all  their 
imperfection  of  knowledge  and  of  expression,  can  write 
words  clearly  intelligible  to  men.  Shall  He,  then,  that  made 
the  tongue  not  speak  so  that  men  may  clearly  understand  ? 
The  difficulty  is  from  men  and  not  from  God.  And  the 
Scriptures  show  us  what  the  difficulty  is.  "  The  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God :  for 
they  are  foolishness  unto  him  :  neither  can  he  know  them, 
because  they  are  spiritually  discerned  "  (1  Cor.  ii.  14). 

Men  in  their  natural  state  have  "the  understanding 
darkened,  being  alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through 


116          PRINCIPLES  OF  FNTERPRETATION. 

the  ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of 
their  heart."  But  he  that  is  spiritual  has  the  mind  of 
Christ  (1  Cor.  ii.  15,  16 ;  Eph.  iv.  18). 

The  Spirit  is  as  necessary,  therefore,  for  the  reception  of 
the  truth  by  us,  as  for  its  communication  to  us. 

We  turn  now  to  consider  what  the  Scriptures  tell  us  of 
their  effect  on  those  who  receive  the  truth. 

1st.  They  communicate  life.  The  Son  of  man  is  the 
sower  of  the  word.  The  good  seed  are  the  children  of 
the  kingdom.  "  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they 
are  spirit  and  they  are  life."  Men  are  born  again  not  of 
corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God 
that  liveth  and  abideth  forever.  And  this  is  the  word 
which  is  preached  by  the  Gospel.  Born  of  water  and  of 
the  Spirit  simply  means  born  of  the  word  and  of  the  Spirit, 
the  water  being  the  emblem  of  the  word.  And  James 
writes :  "  Of  His  own  will  begat  He  us  with  the  word  of 
truth."  Life  comes  to  us  through  the  word  of  God. 

2d.  The  word  of  God  cleanses.  "Now  ye  are  clean 
through  the  word  which  I  have  spoken  unto  you,"  is  said 
in  close  connection  with  "  Every  branch  in  me  that  beareth 
fruit,  He  cleanseth  it  that  it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit." 
It  is  the  same  process  in  all  God's  children.  So  the  Lord 
prays :  "  Sanctify  them  through  Thy  truth  ;  Thy  word  is 
truth."  And  the  pattern  of  our  sanctification  is  His  own. 
He  truly  lived  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God.  Hence,  His  life  was  spotlessly  clean  and 
pure. 

3d.  The  Scriptures  also  enlighten.  "Thy  word  is  a 
lamp  unto  my  feet  and  a  light  unto  my  path."  "  The  en- 
trance of  Thy  words  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding 
unto  the  simple  "  (Ps.  cxix.  105,  130).  God's  word  is  His 
own  eye  looking  into  the  inmost  depths  of  the  soul.  For 
immediately  after  telling  us  that  "the  word  of  God  is 
quick  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul 
and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,"  it  goes 
on  to  saj,  "  Neither  is  there  any  creature  that  is  not  mani- 
fest in  His  sight ;  but  all  things  are  naked  and  opened  unto 
the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do "  (Heb.  iv. 
12,  13). 

4th.  The  word  of  God  is  also  the  food  of  God's  chil- 
dren by  which  the  life  communicated  by  the  word  grows 
by  it  from  spiritual  infancy  to  Christian  maturity.  We 
are  exhorted,  laying  aside  all  malice,  and  all  guile,  and 
hypocrisies,  and  envies,  and  all  evil  speakings,  to  desire 
the  sincere  milk  of  the  "word  that  we  may  grow  thereby, 
unto  salvation.  All  thorough  principles  of  interpretation, 
therefore,  lie  deep  down,  imbedded  and  embodied  in 
spiritual  experience.  A  necessary  and  the  best  possible 
preparation  for  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  is  that 
one  should  know  in  himself  the  effects  of  their  power. 
We  believe  and  therefore  speak,  the  Psalmist  and  Paul 
agree  in  saying.  The  word,  to  be  felt  in  the  full  measure 
of  its  power,  even  when  preached  by  Paul,  the  chiefest  of 
the  Apostles,  is  to  be  taught  and  received,  not  as  the  word 
of  men,  but  as  it  is  in  truth  the  word  of  God,  which  ef- 
fectually worketh  also  in  them  that  so  believe.  Gram- 
matical and  critical  skill  in  regard  to  the  forms  of  the  lan- 
guage, knowledge  of  history,  geography,  and  antiquities, 
furnishing  matter  of  illustration, — these  are  not  to  be  un- 
dervalued nor  despised,  but  eagerly  availed  of  by  all  who 
love  the  Scriptures ;  but  the  highest  attainments  in  any  or 
all  of  these,  as  a  qualification  for  interpreting  the  real 
meaning  of  the  Scriptures,  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared 
with  the  life-giving,  cleansing,  enlightening,  and  strength- 
ening effects  of  the  word  of  God  experienced  in  one's 
own  soul.  We  know  that  in  the  last  days  perilous  times 
shall  corne,  and  doubtless  they  are  already  coine,  when 


118          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

evil  men  and  seducers  shall  wax  worse  and  worse,  deceiv- 
ing and  being  deceived,  and  it  is  the  sense  of  this  as  being 
now  upon  us  that  has  called  together  this  conference.  But 
we  have  God's  perfect  resources  provided  for  those  times, 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  us  wise  unto 
salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  the 
meaning  of  those  Scriptures  is  to  be  confirmed  to  us  by 
the  character  of  those  from  whom  we  learn  the  truth. 
"  Continue  thou  in  the  things  which  thou  hast  learned  and 
hast  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom  thou  hast  learned 
them."  The  safe  interpreter  of  Scripture  to  us  can  only 
be  he  who  exemplifies  the  effects  of  their  power  in  him- 
self. It  is  a  wise  judgment  that,  as  a  rule,  one  cannot  go 
beyond  his  own  spiritual  experience  of  the  truth  in  ex- 
pounding it  to  others. 

How  sorrowful,  in  view  of  these  considerations,  to  look 
over  the  "  Christian  world,"  as  it  is  called,  in  most  con- 
tradictory terms,  and  find  the  favorite  and  trusted  exposi- 
tors of  the  Scriptures  to  large  circles  of  professing  Chris- 
tians, to  be  men  ignorant  or  bitterly  hostile  in  regard  to 
the  plainest  teachings  of  God's  word  on  some,  and  often- 
times on  many  of  the  most  important  lines  of  truth — 
blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  and  both  falling  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  ditch ! 

CHRIST'S  USE  OF  THE  SCEIPTUEES. 

The  view  of  the  word  of  God  thus  given,  and  the 
deepest  principles  of  interpretation,  have  their  profound- 
est  illustration  in  the  use  made  of  the  Scriptures  by  the 
Lord  himself.  "We  have  no  evidence  that  He  ever  read 
any  other  book  than  the  Scriptures,  but  His  teachings  are 
full  of  these.  He  lived  in  them.  There  was  with  Him 
unquestioning  acceptance  of  the  Jewish  Canon,  of  the 
law,  the  prophets,  and  the  Psalms.  Of  the  law  He  said 
not  one  jot  or  tittle  should  fall  away,  but  all  should  be 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION.          119 

fulfilled  ;  from  Isaiah  Ixi.  He  reads  the  precious  summary 
of  His  own  gracious  work,  and  says  to  them  in  the  syna- 
gogue at  Nazareth,  at  the  opening  of  His  public  ministry, 
"  This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears."  Men 
have  had  most  dispute  as  to  the  authority  of  Daniel's 
writings,  of  all  the  prophets,  but  Christ  spoke  of  him  as 
"  Daniel  the  prophet."  Men  in  our  day,  who  claim,  too, 
to  be  Christian  teachers,  have  refused  to  the  Pentateuch 
any  higher  character  than  that  of  a  clumsy  fabrication  of 
post-exilic  times,  without  a  shred  of  the  authority  of 
Moses  in  its  composition,  except  so  far  as  his  name  is  used 
in  it  to  give  currency  to  a  "  pious  fraud."  But  the  least 
to  be  regarded,  in  their  opinion,  of  all  the  five  books  of  the 
Pentateuch,  Deuteronomy,  was  the  word  of  God  to  Christ 
in  His  temptation ;  and  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  gath- 
ered from  this  armory  and  from  this  alone,  He  put  Satan 
to  defeat.  From  one  of  the  Psalms  He  quotes  a  saying : 
"Ye  are  gods";  which,  with  all  the  difficulty  it  may 
still  present  to  our  understanding,  is  to  be  accepted  by  us, 
as  it  was  by  Him,  as  a  part  of  the  Scriptures  "  which  can- 
not be  broken."  His  whole  teaching  is  studded  with 
allusions  to  almost  every  part  of  Scripture,  and  with 
especial  distinctness  to  those  against  which  men  have  most 
cavilled.  He  confounded  the  Pharisees  by  quoting  from 
the  110th  Psalm,  and  asking  them  how  Christ  according 
to  it  could  be  David's  Lord,  and  yet  his  son.  He  refuted 
the  heresy  of  the  Sadducees  from  the  very  name  God  had 
given  Himself  when  He  spoke  to  Moses  from  the  bush. 
In  His  most  intimate  communications  to  His  disciples  the 
Scriptures  are  ever  before  His  mind  and  used  by  Him  for 
their  instruction.  In  the  most  solemn  hours  of  conflict, 
trial,  and  suffering  for  Himself,  the  word  of  God  is  ever 
in  His  heart  and  on  His  lips,  and  the  last  word  He  uttered 
on  the  cross  is  a  quotation  from  the  31st  Psalm.  After 
His  resurrection,  to  the  two  disciples  on  the  way  to 


120          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

Emmaus,  "beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  He 
expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  con- 
cerning Himself,"  under  two  heads,  relating  to  His  suffer- 
ings and  to  His  glory,  thus  binding  all  Scripture  together 
in  one  grand  unity,  Christ  himself  being  the  one  great 
theme.  Of  these  two  disciples  He  opened  the  under- 
standing that  they  might  understand  the  Scriptures.  Many 
a  Christian,  doubtless,  in  reading  of  this  discourse,  has 
wished  that  he  had  a  record  of  it  to  guide  him  in  the 
study  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  we  may  be  assured 
that  if  needed,  it  would  have  been  given  to  us,  and  its 
substance  is  without  question  ministered  to  all  God's 
children  who  cease  to  grieve  the  Spirit  and  give  them- 
selves up  to  Him  to  be  taught  according  to  the  Saviour's 
word,  "He  shall  teach  you  all  things  and  bring  to  your 
remembrance  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you." 

And  so  even  after  His  resurrection  we  see  from  the  1st 
chapter  of  Acts  that  the  Scriptures  were  the  great  theme  of 
His  instructions  during  the  forty  days,  and  His  last  com- 
munication to  His  Church  is  full  of  references  to  the 
words  previously  given  to  His  Church  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  by  Himself  and  His  apostles. 

What  enemy  to  the  truth  can  ever  break  the  force  of 
Christ's  own  example  in  using  the  Scriptures,  so  as  to  lead 
God's  children  to  disregard  or  set  aside  any  part  of  the 
precious  word  of  God  3  And  what  methods  or  systems 
of  interpretation  that  neglect  or  depreciate  any  part  of  the 
book  of  God  which  was  an  organic  whole  to  Christ,  can 
find  acceptance  with  His  Church  ? 


DIFFICULTIES    IN   THE    SCRIPTURES. 

Alleged  Discrepancies  of  the  Gospels. — A  great  mul- 
titude of  the  supposed  difficulties  in  the  Gospels  dis- 
appear at  once  when  we  abandon  the  utterly  unworthy, 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION.          121 

but  not  uncommon  view  of  the  four  lives  of  Christ, 
that  any  or  all  of  them  are  fragmentary  and  imperfect 
in  any  sense.  Such  a  view  is  in  entire  contradiction 
of  all  that  has  been  said  in  reference  to  the  character 
and  authorship  of  God's  Word.  Each  gospel  is  perfect 
in  itself  for  the  end  the  Spirit  had  in  view  in  giving  it. 
No  attempt  is  made  to  give  all  the  details  of  Christ's  life 
or  to  record  all  He  says.  The  contrary  is  expressly  stated. 
Loving  students  of  the  Scriptures,  during  the  last  half 
century  especially,  have  brought  to  light  that  each  gospel 
looks  at  Christ's  life  from  its  own  peculiar  point  of  view 
which  imparts  to  each  a  particular  object  and  character,  and 
this  being  ascertained  and  kept  in  mind,  the  materials 
selected  and  used  from  the  life  of  Christ  in  each  gospel  are 
all  seen  to  be  in  beautiful  harmony  with  the  end  proposed. 
Thus  Matthew  traces  the  genealogy  of  Christ  as  the 
Son  of  David  and  the  Son  of  Abraham,  the  gospel  being 
Jewish  in  character,  and  presenting  Christ  as  their  Mes- 
siah. Luke,  who  presents  Christ  as  the  Son  of  man  in 
His  grace  to  the  whole  world,  traces  His  genealogy  up  to 
Adam,  the  father  of  the  race.  The  omission  of  the  as- 
cension scene  from  Matthew's  gospel  is  explained  in  the 
same  way.  Many  have  been  surprised  that  John's  gospel 
makes  no  mention  of  the  stupendous  scene  of  the  trans- 
figuration of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness,  nor  of  the 
sufferings  in  Gethsemane,  nor  of  the  cry  on  the  cross, 
"  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ? "  But 
these  things  all  belong  to  the  history  of  Christ  as  the  Son 
of  man,  not  as  the  Son  of  God.  While  John's  gospel 
itself  tells  us  that  it  was  written  to  this  end,  that  "  ye 
might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God." 

THE   INSCRIPTION   ON   THE   CKOSS. 

Men  professing  reverence  for  the  Scriptures  have  been 
so  perplexed  with  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  the  accounts 


122          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION. 

in  the  four  Gospels  of  what  was  written  on  the  cross,  as 
to  give  up  belief  in  verbal  inspiration.  But  a  patient  ex- 
amination of  the  record  of  that  inscription  demonstrates 
no  necessary  contradiction  between  them.  And  it  is  clearly 
stated  that  the  inscription  was  in  three  different  languages 
— Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin — and  Matthew  gives  us  only 
the  accusation  that  was  made  against  Christ  in  the  in- 
scription. 

PETER'S  DENIAL. 

With  reference  to  the  history  of  this,  too,  some  have 
said  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  reconcile  the  differing 
statements.  Suppose  it  to  be  so.  May  our  inability  not 
be  the  result  of  our  ignorance  of  some  omitted  fact  or  facts 
which  would  harmonize  all?  Independent,  varying  testi- 
mony of  witnesses  about  a  matter,  proves  their  trustwor- 
thiness in  so  far  as  to  show  that  there  is  no  collusion 
among  them,  and  without  demonstration  of  contradiction 
we  cannot  discredit  their  testimony  because  of  such  vari- 
ations. 

It  is  fair,  it  is  honest,  and  it  is  simply  right  and  reverent 
to  give  such  considerations  their  full  force  in  meeting 
such  difficulties  in  interpreting  the  word  of  God. 

ELOHIM    AND   JEHOVAH. 

What  a  noise  has  been  made  about  the  different  names 
given  to  God  in  different  parts  of  the  Pentateuch !  For 
instance,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  through  three 
verses  of  the  second  chapter,  the  name  uniformly  given  is 
Elohim,  uniformly  rendered  God  in  the  Authorized  Version. 
Beginning  at  the  fourth  verse  of  the  second  chapter,  uni- 
formly to  the  end  of  that  chapter,  another  name  is  added, 
Jehovah,  and  the  two  rendered  uniformly  in  the  English 
Bible  "  the  Lord  God."  Now.  should  we  come  to  the 
study  of  these  documents  from  the  study  of  Niebuhr's  dis- 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION.          123 

section  and  exposure  of  the  lying  fables  of  Greek  and 
Bornaii  history,  to  which  form  and  color  were  given  by 
national  pride  and  vanity,  and  seek  to  dissect  and  expose 
the  falsehoods  of  Jewish  fables,  as  Niebuhr  did  for  Greek 
and  Roman,  and  with  no  more  reverence  in  the  study,  we 
might  reach  and  rest  in  the  conclusions  of  this  irreverent 
and  presumptuous  school  of  critics.  One,  however,  would 
suppose  that  any  critic  who  had  the  fear  of  God  before  him, 
and  knew  the  reverent  use  which  Christ  made  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch, would  shudder  thus  to  treat  the  word  of  God. 

But  God's  loving  children  will  come  to  the  study  of  the 
same  words,  and  when  He  gives  Himself  a  new  name,  they 
will  reverently  seek  to  find  out  what  He  means  by  it.  And 
when  they  find  the  new  name  appears  when  He  begins 
to  deal  with  man  on  terms  of  special  relationship,  as  en- 
dowed with  privileges  and  placed  in  responsibility,  and 
they  find  it  the  same  name  afterward  used  with  His  chosen 
nation  to  express  the  faithfulness  of  Him  who  was,  and  is, 
and  is  to  come,  the  Eternal,  they  rejoice  in  the  revelation. 
In  the  next  chapter,  too,  Satan  leaves  out  the  precious  new 
name  when  he  speaks,  and  our  first  mother  when  speak- 
ing under  his  temptation ;  but  God  still  gives  it  to  Him- 
self in  all  His  tender  and  gracious  dealing  with  those  who 
have  brought  in  sin  and  death  upon  all  their  race.  And 
when  in  the  next  chapter  on  the  birth  of  Cain,  Eve  thinks 
he  is  the  seed  of  the  woman  who  is  to  bruise  the  serpent's 
head,  she  says,  "  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  Jehovah."  See 
how  sweetly  and  discriminatingly  both  names  are  used  in 
one  short  verse,  chapter  vii.  16  :  "  And  they  that  went  in, 
went  in,  male  and  female  of  all  flesh,  as  God  had  com- 
manded him  (God  in  relation  to  the  animal  creation) ;  and 
the  Lord  (Jehovah)  shut  him  in  "  (Jehovah  in  tender  cove- 
nant faithfulness  to  His  righteous  servant).  The  little 
book  of  Jonah  furnishes  clear  illustrations  on  the  point, 
and  so  do  the  Psalms. 


124:          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION. 

Much  is  lost  of  precious  truth  to  those  who  fail  to  ob- 
serve the  same  discriminating  use  of  the  name  of  God 
and  of  the  Saviour  in  the  New  Testament  also.  God  is  the 
God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  our  God 
and  Father,  as  His  first  message  to  His  disciples  since 
His  resurrection  shows.  Do  these  names  mean  nothing  ? 
Could  either  be  omitted  here  ?  Or  could  either  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  other  when  only  one  is  used?  To  many 
this  might  be  done  with  no  appreciable  loss  of  truth,  be- 
cause they  have  not  found  the  sweet  treasures  locked  up 
in  these  precious  names.  I  can  only  find  time  to  suggest 
passages  worthy  of  most  careful  and  loving  study.  Why 
in  the  garden,  and  also  in  a  former  anticipation  of  His  suf- 
ferings, does  Jesus  call  on  His  Father  ?  Again,  why  in  the 
three  hours  of  darkness  on  the  cross  does  He  say :  "  My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ? "  Again,  a 
most  instructive  use  of  both  names  is  given  in  His  dis- 
course with  the  woman  at  the  well,  showing  the  loving 
grace  of  the  Father  as  He  now  seeks  those  to  worship 
Him  who  shall  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  but 
in  closest  connection  with  this  solemn  word :  "  God  is  a 
Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth." 

SHALL    WE    JUDGE     THE    WORD,    OR    SHALL    THE    WORD 
JUDGE    US? 

It  is  matter  of  devout  thanksgiving  that  God  has  so 
wonderfully  preserved  His  word  to  us.  So  many  manu- 
scripts of  great  antiquity,  so  many  versions,  so  many  quo- 
tations from  it,  that  we  have  the  means  of  ascertaining 
the  original  text  with  more  accuracy  than  that  of  any 
other  ancient  writing  whatsoever.  Man,  to  whose  hand 
this  precious  treasure  was  committed,  has  been  so  foolish 
and  presumptuous  as  to  tamper  with  it,  taking  from  it 
what  he  did  not  like  to  find  there,  and  adding  to  it  what 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION.          125 

God  did  not  put  there ;  one  passage  assimilating  to  an- 
other in  some  respects  like  it ;  all  such  additions  and  sub- 
tractions being  blunders,  every  one  of  them,  as  for  in- 
stance the  assimilation  of  the  Lord's  prayer  in  Luke  xi.  to 
that  in  Matthew  vi.  When  we  have  used  all  diligence  to 
possess  ourselves  of  the  correct  text  as  nearly  as  possible, 
how  now  shall  we  use  it  so  as  to  interpret  it  aright  to  our- 
selves and  to  others  ?  The  right  attitude  of  soul  for  an 
interpreter  is  suggested  in  these  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus : 
"  He  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my  words,  hath 
one  that  judgeth  him.  For  the  word  that  I  have  spoken, 
the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."  We  come  to 
the  study  of  God's  word  aright,  therefore,  when,  in  an 
humble  and  reverent  manner,  we  subject  ourselves  to  its 
authority,  and  search  ourselves  with  its  light,  judging  our- 
selves by  it  instead  of  sitting  in  judgment  upon  it.  This 
self -judgment  in  the  light  of  the  Scriptures,  when  fully 
made,  will  divest  us  of  all  glorying  in  the  wisdom  and 
learning  of  the  world,  will  place  us  before  God  in  the  hu- 
mility and  docility  of  little  children,  will  strip  us  of  the 
last  trace  of  confidence  in  the  flesh.  The  man,  therefore, 
who  has  an  inadequate  sense  of  sin  in  general,  and  of  his 
own  sins  and  sin  in  particular,  not  having  yet  learned  that 
deepest  lesson  in  regard  to  sin  which  God  at  one  time  or 
other  will  teach  to  all  His  children,  viz.,  "  that  in  me  (that 
is,  in  my  flesh,)  dwelleth  no  good  thing,"  such  a  man 
lacks  essential  qualifications  for  the  thorough  interpreta- 
tion of  the  word  of  God.  Paul's  experience  in  this  regard 
is  an  example  for  the  instruction  of  all  God's  children. 
Caught  up  to  the  third  heaven,  where  he  heard  unspeaka- 
ble words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter ;  when 
he  came  back  to  earth  he  was  in  danger  of  committing  the 
extreme  folly  of  being  exalted  above  measure  through  the 
abundance  of  the  revelations.  So  it  was  necessary,  in  the 
loving  dealings  of  the  Father,  to  humble  him  by  the  thorn  in 


126          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

the  flesh  sent  him,  the  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  him,  to 
take  out  of  him  all  the  conceit  of  himself  in  supposing 
that  in  any  energy  of  the  flesh  he  could  serve  the  Lord 
acceptably  or  efficiently.  The  trial  was  so  sore,  and  so 
humbling,  that  he  besought  the  Lord  thrice  to  remove  it. 
But  the  Lord  in  His  love  could  and  did  not,  but  taught 
him  :  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  my  strength  is 
made  perfect  in  weakness."  Every  interpreter  of  the 
truth  must,  if  he  do  his  work  thoroughly,  learn  the  same 
lesson,  "  When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong,"  for  thus 
only  shall  the  power  of  Christ  rest  upon  him. 

DISPENSATIONAL   TEACHING. 

It  is  a  very  important  principle  of  interpretation  that 
the  differences  of  dispensation  should  be  observed.  The 
two  great  dispensations  are  those  of  the  law,  and  of  grace. 
Under  that  of  law,  God  proposes  a  perfect  law  as  to  what 
man  in  the  flesh  ought  to  do.  Under  that  of  grace,  when 
man  has  crucified  the  Prince  of  Glory  in  his  hatred  of 
God  without  cause,  God  displays  the  riches  of  His  grace 
in  opening  wide  to  men  of  every  nation  the  door  of  access 
to  Him,  and  calls  men  now  by  the  Gospel  to  a  place  of 
nearness,  fellowship,  and  intimacy  with  the  Father  and 
the  Son  unknown  in  previous  ages.  It  was  the  glory  of 
His  people  in  the  former  dispensation  to  be  called  the  ser- 
vants, and  in  exceptional  cases,  the  "  friends "  of  God. 
Now,  "  thou  art  no  longer  a  servant,  but  a  son,  and  be- 
cause ye  are  sons  He  hath  sent  forth  the  spirit  of  His  Son 
into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  Then  Jews  had 
pre-eminence  over  the  nations  in  privileges  and  blessings, 
implying  nearness  and  peculiar  favor.  Now,  in  this  the 
Church  age,  the  middle  wall  of  partition  is  removed,  and 
in  the  Church  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile,  bar- 
barian, Scythian,  bond  nor  free,  and  we  all  have  access 
by  one  Spirit  unto  the  Father.  Instead  of  worshipping 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION.          127 

outside  the  veil,  with  no  sacrifice  adequate  to  purge  the 
conscience,  we  now  have  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holiest 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  and  having  Him  as  an  high-priest 
over  the  house  of  God,  we  are  privileged  to  draw  near 
with  a  true  heart,  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith,  having 
our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,  and  our 
bodies  washed  with  pure  water.  We  are  all  consecrated 
priests  unto  God ;  all  believers  are  a  holy  and  a  royal 
priesthood. 

And  now  to  these  considerations  add  the  crowning  glory 
of  this  age,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  come ;  our  Comforter, 
to  abide  with  us  forever ;  to  show  us  these  things,  and  all 
things  that  the  Father  hath,  as  ours  in  fellowship  with 
Christ,  who  baptizes  all  believers  into  one  body,  and  builds 
them  together  as  an  habitation  of  God.  About  the  com- 
ing of  this  Comforter,  the  Saviour  said :  "  It  is  expedient 
for  you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter 
will  not  come  unto  you."  About  the  fruit  of  His  presence 
in  us  in  this  age,  He  was  speaking  when  He  said :  "  He 
that  believeth  on  me,  from  within  him  shall  flow  rivers  of 
living  waters."  This  is  the  great  blessing  of  this  dispensa- 
tion, as  contrasted  with  the  former  one.  Has  any  adequate 
expression  been  given  to  it  in  any  creed  of  Christendom  ? 
Has  the  truth  about  so  vastly  important  a  matter  been 
taught  line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept  to  all  the 
people  ?  Or,  have  only  the  surface  and  the  externals  of 
the  great  characteristic  doctrines  of  this  age  been  taught  to 
the  mass  of  professing  Christians  \  Have  men  shunned  to 
declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God  ?  Are  many  professing 
Christians  now  like  the  company  of  believers  Paul  found  at 
Ephesus,  to  whom  he  put  the  question,  "  Have  ye  received 
the  Holy  Ghost  since  ye  believed  ? " 

The  system  of  teaching  and  interpretation  which  leaves 
out  of  view,  or  does  not  present  with  clearness  and  fullness 
in  proportion  to  its  prime  importance,  the  characteristic 


128          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

truth  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  viz.,  the  presence  and 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  every  believer,  and  His 
baptizing  them  together  as  the  body  of  Christ,  and  build- 
ing them  together  as  the  habitation  of  God,  together  with 
the  immense  enlargement  in  consequence  of  the  privileges 
and  responsibility  of  the  Church, — such  teaching  and 
interpretation  egregiously  fail  to  put  due  honor  on  the 
precious,  perfect  truth  of  the  word  of  God  revealed  for 
this  day. 

THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  PROPHECY. 

It  is  a  not  uncommon  opinion,  though  it  may  not  be 
often  distinctly  and  boldly  avowed,  that  prophecy  consti- 
tutes a  small  portion  of  the  Scriptures,  and  an  unimportant 
one  in  comparison  with  other  portions  deemed  of  greater 
and  especially  of  more  practical  importance.  It  would  be 
nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  all  Scripture  is  prophetic.  His- 
tory demonstrates  nothing  more  clearly  than  this,  that  man 
has  failed  in  every  place  of  responsibility  and  privilege 
in  which  God  has  placed  him.  And  man  will  continue 
thus  to  fail  to  the  end,  "  For  no  flesh  shall  glory  in  God's 
presence."  Scripture  tells  us  that  we  do  well  to  take  heed 
to  prophecy  as  "  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place." 
Man's  failure  brings  in  ruin  and  darkness.  In  that  dark- 
ness arises  the  light  of  prophecy  to  teach  all  men  as  Israel 
was  taught,  "  O  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in 
me  is  thine  help."  Prophecy  points  to  resources  of  help 
and  blessing  in  God  above  and  beyond  all  the  failure  of 
man  and  the  ruin  he  has  wrought.  Look  at  the  prote- 
vangelium  from  the  Lord's  own  mouth  in  the  garden,  be- 
fore man  has  been  banished  from  Eden  :  "  It  shall  bruise 
thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  By  one  man's 
disobedience  many  have  been  made  sinners.  Sin  has  en- 
tered into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  has  passed  upon 
all  men.  How  sweet  and  comforting  in  such  darkness  and 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION.          129 

misery  to  hear  that  most  comprehensive  of  all  prophecies, 
which  still  awaits  fulfillment,  when  Satan  shall  be  bruised 
under  our  feet  shortly,  and  the  kingdom  of  our  Father 
shall  come,  and  His  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven  ! 

In  the  abounding  iniquity  of  the  last  of  the  antediluvian 
days,  there  sounds  out  the  prophecy  of  Enoch,  the  seventh 
from  Adam,  which  was  partially  fulfilled  with  judgment 
of  God  upon  the  wicked  in  the  days  of  J^~oah,  but  awaits  its 
final  and  complete  fulfillment  when  the  Son  of  man  shall 
come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  in  the  day  of  the  judgment 
and  perdition  of  ungodly  men.  Look  at  the  abounding 
iniquities  of  the  Canaanites  in  the  land  when  God  gave  to 
the  long-tried  faith  of  Abraham  those  prophetic  promises 
of  blessing  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  through  the  seed 
to  be  born  to  him,  in  fulfillment  of  which  Israel  shall  yet 
blossom  and  bud,  and  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit. 

As  Israel  embraces  the  abominable  idolatries  of  the  sur- 
rounding nations,  see  how,  with  prophecy  after  prophecy, 
light  is  shed  on  the  darkness  for  all  who  will  cleave  to 
God.  When  the  deeper  darkness  of  the  captivity  comes, 
as  the  stars  come  out  to  view  in  the  blackness  of  the  night, 
so  in  the  clear  and  full  light  of  the  prophecies  of  that 
period,  God  reveals  times  of  future  blessing,  restoration, 
and  glory  yet  to  appear  in  their  full  and  final  measure  of 
splendor. 

The  prophecies  of  the  Lord  himself  in  the  Gospels 
point  to,  and  are  a  provision  for,  the  days  when  iniquity 
shall  abound  and  the  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold.  And 
with  what  splendor  of  light  and  clearness  in  the  midst  of 
growing  darkness  come  out  the  prophecies  of  Paul,  Peter, 
Jude,  and  John,  in  days  when  there  have  already  come 
many  antichrists,  and  scoffers  have  arisen,  and  when  the 
Lord  himself,  looking  down  over  His  Church  with  all- 
seeing  eye,  finds  even  Ephesus  to  have  left  its  first  love, 
Satan  entrenched  at  Pergamos,  the  abomination  of  Balaam, 


130         PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION. 

and  the  Nicolaitanes,  and  of  Jezebel,  rife  and  rampant, 
churches  with  a  name  to  live,  but  dead,  a  few  in  the  midst 
of  the  deepening  darkness  and  the  prevalence  of  Laodicean 
indifference  to  truth,  holding  fast  to  His  word,  and  not 
denying  His  name. 

As  the  Lord  thus  provides  prophecy  as  a  light  in  the 
dark  places  for  His  people  in  all  ages,  and  has  interwoven 
it  with  the  whole  texture  of  Scripture,  and  as  in  this  age 
of  the  Church  the  Spirit  is  given  to  guide  us  "  into  all  the 
truth,  and  to  shpw  us  things  to  come,"  what  must  we  be 
compelled  to  say  of  interpretation  of  Scripture  that  ignores 
prophecy,  or  relegates  it  to  a  subordinate  or  unimportant 
place  in  the  scheme,  or  turns  from  its  study  as  from  "  an 
intricate  and  thorny  path  "  ?  Such  interpretation,  however 
orthodox  and  correct  it  may  be,  as  far  as  it  goes,  must  be 
grossly  defective  in  preserving  the  proper  proportions  of 
truth.  And  it  must  be  very  different  from  the  teaching 
of  Paul,  who  taught  even  young  converts  to  be  themselves 
always  waiting  for  God's  Son  to  come  from  heaven,  and 
to  know  perfectly,  so  that  they  needed  not  that  he  should 
write  to  them  of  the  judgments  impending  over  the  world. 
They  had  no  vain  dreams  of  the  conversion  of  the  world, 
but  knew  perfectly  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  would  come 
as  a  thief  in  the  night  to  the  ungodly,  just  as  the  deluge 
came  upon  them  in  the  days  of  Noah,  and  the  fire  from 
heaven  in  the  days  of  Lot  came  upon  the  cities  of  the  plain. 


THINGS    NEW    AND    OLD. 

God  hath  spoken  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  meas- 
ures by  the  mouth  of  the  prophets  of  past  ages,  but  in 
these  last  days  in  fullness  of  revelation  by  His  Son,  and  by 
those  to  whom  having  given  the  Spirit  of  His  Son,  He  al- 
lotted the  work  of  completing  the  Scriptures.  The  earlier 
utterances  in  divers  measures  of  clearness  and  fullness  are 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETA  TION.          131 

all  of  divine  fitness  for  their  times,  and  for  all  time,  es- 
pecially as  serving  to  lead  immature  believers  by  easy,  ele- 
mental lessons,  as  it  were,  into  the  possession  of  full  knowl- 
edge. Let  the  Passover  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
]STew  furnish  an  illustration.  In  1  Cor.  v.  7,  we  learn 
that  Christ  our  Passover  has  been  sacrificed  for  us,  and 
we  are  exhorted  also  to  keep  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread. 
Looking  back  to  the  institution  of  the  Passover  and  of  the 
feast  following  it,  in  Exodus  xii.  we  find  the  Spirit  going 
into  a  number  of  details  with  great  particularity  and  mi- 
nuteness. Shall  I  throw  these  aside  as  of  no  importance, 
the  whole  ceremony  being  now  obsolete  and  of  no  import- 
ance for  me  now  to  study  ?  ISTot  if  I  properly  honor  and 
use  God's  word. 

Can  a  spiritual  mind  doubt  that  the  Lord  himself  dwelt 
on  all  these  details  and  explained  them  to  the  two  disci- 
ples on  the  way  to  Emmaus  ?  Look  at  them.  The  pass- 
over  is  to  begin  the  year.  We,  by  nature  the  children  of 
wrath,  are  dead  in  sin  in  God's  sight  until  sheltered  by  faith 
in  the  blood  of  Christ  our  Passover.  Then  we  begin  to 
live.  Again,  the  lamb  must  be  without  spot.  So  Christ 
offered  Himself  to  God.  Again,  all  the  congregation  of 
Israel  killed  the  lamb  together  in  the  evening.  Christians 
are  not  Christians  in  separation  and  isolation  like  grains  of 
sand.  They  are  brethren.  The  first  instinct  of  the  new 
life  is  to  love  the  brethren.  By  this  we  know  that  we 
have  passed  from  death  to  life.  Again,  the  lamb  was 
kept  up  four  days  before  its  sacrifice.  How  carefully 
during  those  days  would  parental  love  see  to  it  that  there 
was  really  no  spot  on  the  lamb.  For  on  this  hung  the 
life  of  the  first-born.  Through  what  searching  tests  was 
Christ  shown  to  be  without  spot  before  He  offered  Him- 
self! 

But  the  flesh  of  the  lamb  was  to  be  eaten  that  night,  to 
give  strength  for  the  journey.  So  now,  the  life  of  Christ 


132          PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRE  TA  TION. 

here  in  the  body,  received,  believed  in,  incorporated  into 
ours,  gives  strength  to  God's  pilgrims  through  this  world. 
We  are  only  to  walk  where  He  walked  before  us.  But 
not  His  life  simply.  "  Eat  not  of  it  raw,  nor  sodden  at  all 
with  water,  but  roast  with  fire."  Christ's  precious,  spot- 
less life,  to  avail  for  us,  must  pass  through  the  fire.  If  we 
are  to  enjoy  God's  favor,  Christ  must  bear  the  wrath  due 
to  our  sin  without  the  least  mitigation.  God  made  Him 
to  be  sin  for  us.  Let  Him  eat  the  passover  in  haste,  too ; 
His  loins  girded,  His  staff  in  His  hand,  and  His  shoes  on 
His  feet.  How  impressive  the  picture  of  a  stranger  and 
pilgrim  here,  journeying  to  the  rest  which  remaineth  for 
the  people  of  God  !  And  the  seven  days'  feast  of  unleav- 
ened bread  to  follow,  with  no  leaven  even  in  the  houses. 
What  a  comment  on  "  Be  ye  holy  as  He  which  hath  called 
you  is  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation ! " 

It  is  one  mind,  one  truth,  one  Christ  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation. 

In  conclusion,  we  have  God's  word.  How  shall  we  in- 
terpret it  to  others?  Let  its  life-giving,  cleansing,  en- 
lightening, and  strengthening  power  be  experienced  in 
our  inmost  souls,  as  men  of  God  perfect,  that  is,  full- 
grown,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works.  Let 
each  of  us  have  a  message  to  carry  to  others  of  what  God 
through  His  word  has  done  for  us  and  how  He  has  had  mercy 
upon  us.  Let  His  whole  word  be  translated  by  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  into  our  daily,  our  whole  life,  of  spirit,  soul, 
and  body.  Be  saints,  children  of  light,  walking  in  the 
light  as  God  is  in  the  light — Christ's  living  epistle,  known 
'and  read  of  all  men. 

Have  a  simple,  happy,  childlike  confidence  in  our  Fa- 
ther's word,  and  a  sublime  assurance  of  its  final  vindica- 
tion and  victory  over  all  its  foes.  If  men  do  and  will  op- 
pose, as  we  know  they  will,  let  us  be  gentle  to  all  such, 
apt  to  teach,  patient,  in  meekness  instructing  them,  in 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION.          133 

Christlike  pity  to  those  whom  the  god  of  this  world  hath 
so  blinded  that  they  believe  not.  Christ  himself  wept 
over  such.  And  in  fullest,  richest,  sweetest  fellowship 
with  Him,  with  our  Father,  and  with  the  Holy  Spirit, 
may  we  ever  walk,  vessels  meet  for  the  Master's  use,  ever 
exemplifying  His  truth,  His  power  resting  on  us,  and  we 
glorifying  Him  in  our  life,  and,  if  He  so  will,  in  our 
death. 


ALLEGED   OBJECTIONS   TO   INSPIKATION 
CONSIDEKED. 

WASHINGTON   GARDNER. 

IN  the  treatment  of  our  theme,  it  is  important  that  we 
first  determine  what  is  to  be  understood  by  inspiration, 
that  we  may  the  more  intelligently  comprehend  and  con- 
sider the  alleged  objections  thereto. 

"Divine  inspiration  of  the  sacred  volume,"  has  been 
declared  to  be  "the  first  basis  of  Christian  faith."*  "It 
may  be  best  defined,"  says  another,  "  according  to  the 
representations  of  the  Scriptures  themselves  as  an  extra- 
ordinary divine  agency  upon  teachers  while  giving  in- 
struction, whether  oral  or  written,  by  which  they  were 
taught  what  and  how  they  should  speak." 

Still  another  f  says :  "  It  is  the  imparting  of  such  a  de- 
gree of  divine  influence,  assistance,  or  guidance  as  enabled 
the  authors  of  the  several  Books  of  Scripture  to  communi- 
cate religious  knowledge  without  error  or  mistake."  In 
the  Book  itself  it  is  asserted  that  "Holy  men  of  God 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  J  And 
that  "All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God."§ 
"We  are  not  unmindful  that  this  rendering  of  the  last 
quoted  passage  is  questioned,  and  that  good  authorities 
may  be  cited  in  favor  of  a  different  translation.  We  are 


*  Guizot,    "  Meditations  on  the  Essence  of 
page  171. 
t  Harmon's  "Introduction,"  page  4. 

I  2  Peter  i.  21.  §  2  Timothy  ill  16. 

(134) 


ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION.     135 

also  aware  that  very  good  authority  exists  for  the  transla- 
tion as  given. 

We  may  say  at  the  outset,  that  here,  upon  the  word  of 
God  itself  as  found  in  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ments, do  we  discover  the  standard  of  inspiration  which 
we  propose  to  set  up,  and  against  which  the  objections  we 
are  to  consider  are  alleged.  In  this  discussion,  Inspiration 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Revelation.  While  it  is  as- 
serted that  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  it 
is  not  asserted  that  all  Scripture  is  revealed  from  the  same 
source.  All  that  was  known  was  of  course  unrevealed, 
while  all  that  was  knowable,  but  unknown  to  the  writer, 
and  all  that  was  unknowable,  but  which  God  desired  to 
make  known,  were  revealed  ;  so  that  inspiration  embraces 
revelation,  as  the  whole  embraces  all  its  parts. 

It  is  conceded  that  God  inspired  the  doctrines  set  forth 
in  the  Bible,  but  that  the  biographical  and  historical  de- 
tails are  of  man.  With  the  advocates  of  this  position,  the 
theory  is  that  the  doctrines  were  unknown  and  unknow- 
able to  unassisted  man,  and  that  therefore  God  was  con- 
sistent with  Himself  in  revealing  them  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  alleged  that  the  biographical  and  historical  portions 
of  the  Book  were  either  known  to  the  writers  or  were 
within  the  domain  of  acquirable  information,  and  as  "  God 
does  not  set  up  His  divine  torch  in  human  study,"  nor 
"  pour  His  light  in  quarters  which  man's  eye  and  man's 
labor  can  reach,"  He  is  only  consistent  with  Himself  in 
withholding  inspiration  from  man  in  that  part  of  the  Bible 
the  contents  of  which  he  knew  or  might  have  known. 

This  objection  is  so  well  answered  by  Garbett  in  "  God's 
Word  Written,"  that  we  quote  at  length.  The  effect  of 
this  allegation 

-"that  the  Scriptural  writers  were  inspired  in  delivering 
the  great  doctrines  of  revelation  relative  to  the  nature  of  G-od 
and  the  salvation  of  man,  but  were  not  inspired  in  regard  to 


136     ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRA  TION. 

the  biographical  and  historical  facts ;  that  the  jewel  of  divine 
truth,  in  short,  is  of  God,  but  that  its  historical  setting  is  of 
man.  But  the  effect  of  this  theory  is  to  deprive  of  their  heaven- 
given  authority  those  very  portions  of  Scripture  which  consti- 
tute the  evidence  for  the  veracity  of  the  whole,  and  in  which 
alone  such  evidence  could  conceivably  be  afforded. 

* '  That  God  in  giving  a  revelation  should  supply  at  the  same 
time  some  internal  means  of  verifying  it,  will  be  admitted  to 
be  congruous  not  only  with  the  gracious  character  of  God,  but 
with  the  mode  of  action  He  has  actually  adopted.  It  would  be 
strange  if  God  had  provided  in  miracles  and  in  prophecy  an 
attestation  to  the  authority  of  Scripture,  and  yet  had  afforded 
no  means  of  ascertaining  its  truth.  No  Christian  will  doubt 
that  the  whole  fabric  of  evidence  possessed  by  us  to  prove  the 
Bible  to  be  a  revelation  from  God,  has  been  intelligently  pro- 
vided. It  has  not  grown  by  chance,  but  has  been  schemed  by 
the  mind  of  God,  ordered  by  His  goodness  and  framed  by  His 
wisdom.  But  of  this  scheme  the  confirmation  of  its  truth  by 
the  testimony  of  secular  history  and  archaeological  discovery, 
constitutes  an  important  portion.  But  this  proof  lies  altogether 
in  the  historical  details  of  Scripture,  not  in  its  doctrines.  We 
have  no  possible  means  of  putting  to  any  practical  test  its  doc- 
trines, such  as  the  Trinity  of  persons  in  the  Godhead ;  the  union 
of  two  natures  in  Christ ;  the  justification  of  the  sinner  by  faith  ; 
or  the  person  and  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  cannot 
climb  up  into  heaven  to  see  the  eternal  realities  to  which  the 
revealed  doctrines  correspond.  We  accept  them  because  we 
find  them  contained  in  a  revelation  we  believe  to  have  come 
from  God.  But  we  have  no  possible  means  of  proving  them. 
We  have  means  of  testing  the  accuracy  of  historical  facts ;  and 
in  these  facts,  therefore,  it  is  natural  that  God  should  supply 
the  means  of  verifying  His  own  words.  The  historical  portions 
of  the  Scripture  are  inseparably  identified  with  the  doctrinal, 
and  form  component  parts  of  one  and  the  same  revelation,  in- 
vested with  one  and  the  same  authority."  * 

It  is  urged  that  it  is  beneath  the  majesty  of  God  to  take 
note  of  details  in  unimportant  and  temporal  human  affairs, 
such  as  surround  the  great  doctrines  evolved  from  the 

*  Pages  286-7. 


ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION.    137 

depths  of  infinite  wisdom.  To  this  objection  we  answer : 
In  the  natural  world  God  has  certainly  shown  concern  for 
what  seem  to  be,  and,  relatively  speaking,  are  minor  affairs, 
but  of  which  a  careful  examination  reveals  the  fact  that 
they  are  indispensable  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole.  In 
the  Holy  Spirit's  relation  to  human  conduct,  individual 
experience  testifies  that  it  does  not  concern  itself  alone 
with  what  may  be  termed  the  more  important  affairs  of 
life,  but  with  the  lesser  as  well.  The  wisdom  and  the  good- 
ness of  God  manifested  in  this  fidelity  of  His  Spirit,  is  the 
more  apparent  when  we  remember  that  our  life-course  is 
largely  determined  by  the  things  of  apparent  minor  im- 
portance. Character  is  shaped  and  destiny  fixed  in  large 
part  by  what  seem  to  be  the  little  things  in  life;  but 
character  and  destiny,  as  the  resultant  of  all  life,  are  cer- 
tainly not  unimportant.  God  incarnate  would  never  have 
been  the  faith  of  manifold  millions  who  to-day  confess 
Him,  but  for  the  fidelity  of  the  human  Christ  to  human 
nature  in  the  details  of  His  earthly  life ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  manifestation  of  a  perfect  consistency  between 
the  human  and  the  divine  nature  as  revealed  in  one  and 
the  same  person. 

The  teachings  of  our  Lord  must,  from  the  very  nature 
of  their  Author,  be  inspired.  He  was  very  God  and  very 
man.  Yet  we  find  Jesus  entering  into  all  the  minutiae  of 
life  in  setting  forth  and  enforcing  the  great  doctrines 
enunciated  by  Him.  Certainly  He  did  not  esteem  such  a 
course  unnecessary  nor  beneath  Him. 

It  is  alleged  that  the  language  is  different  in  different 
portions  of  the  Bible.  The  Scripture  doctrine  is,  that 
God  is  immutable ;  therefore  we  should  expect  that  the 
very  language  of  the  Bible,  if  the  whole  book  is  inspired 
of  God,  should  be  unchanged  and  unchangeable.  We 
answer,  that  the  human  element  is  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Scriptures.  The  Book  itself  is  a  mirror  of  the  age,  the 


138    ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION. 

peoples,  and  the  customs  of  which  it  speaks.  As  a  history 
it  would  not  be  accurate  were  it  less  than  this ;  as  a  reve- 
lation it  would  hardly  accomplish  the  end  designed  without 
this  adaptation. 

It  is  urged  that  there  is  great  variation  in  the  different 
accounts  of  incident  or  event,  or  discourse  or  the  setting 
forth  of  the  same  doctrine ;  whereas,  on  the  theory  of  a  ple- 
nary inspiration,  we  should  expect  a  uniform  presentation. 
This  theory,  however  plausible,  is  contrary  to  human  usage 
and  experience.  All  know  that  there  is  often  a  marked 
variation  in  the  narrative  accounts  of  the  same  events  by 
the  same  person.  And  yet  each  and  all  are  correct  in  so 
far  as  they  set  forth  that  which  the  writer  undertakes  to 
express.  The  thought  is  illustrated  in  the  verbal  or  struc- 
tural setting  of  principles  or  doctrines,  in  which,  though 
there  may  be  differences  in  the  language  and  forms  adopted, 
there  is  no  substantial  variation  in  essence.  Familiarity 
with  the  New  Testament  makes  clear  the  fact  that  our 
Saviour's  teachings  have  all  the  qualities  of  variation  indi- 
cated as  characteristic  of  human  teaching.  And  yet  the 
inspiration  of  Jesus  is  unquestioned.  If  Jesus  the  Son,  in 
His  divine  nature,  chose  to  exercise  this  latitude,  why  fix 
the  metes  and  bounds  of  God  the  Father  in  a  stereotyped 
form,  and  then  deny  His  authorship,  unless  He  appears  in 
such  form  as  we  consider  He  should  ? 

It  is  alleged,  on  the  part  of  those  who  deny  plenary  in- 
spiration, that  God  did  inspire  the  matter,  but  that  He  left 
to  man  the  important  work  of  setting  it  in  speech.  Is  it 
not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  if  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
stance was  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  imparted  under 
divine  inspiration,  that  it  would  be  so  guarded  in  the 
method  of  impartation  that  there  might  be  no  serious  mis- 
takes \  All  understand  how  the  substitution  of  one  word 
for  another  alters,  or  may  alter,  the  meaning  intended  to 
be  conveyed.  Profound  and  exhaustive  arguments  have 


ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION.    139 

been  founded  on  single  words.  Indeed,  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  the  peculiar  faith  of  a  sect  may  depend 
in  its  root-doctrine  on  a  single  phrase,  and  it  might  almost 
be  said  on  a  single  word.  The  inspired  writers  in  the 
jSTew  Testament,  as  we  see  time  and  again,  "  rest  positive 
doctrines  and  frame  elaborate  arguments  on  the  authen- 
ticity of  single  sentences  and  single  words  of  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures." 

Many  who  seem  quite  willing  to  concede  inspiration  to 
the  New  Testament  Scriptures  are  disposed  to  deny  it  to 
very  much  of  the  Old.  In  answer  to  this,  we  aver  that 
the  writers  in  the  Old  Testament  repeatedly  declare  that 
they  spoke  under  the  Spirit's  inspiration,  or  that  they 
voiced  that  which  was  given  them  to  speak.  David  says : 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spoke  by  me,  and  His  word  was 
in  my  tongue."  *  Jeremiah  asserts :  "  These  are  the  words 
that  the  Lord  spake."  f  Isaiah  testifies,  J  moreover,  "  the 
Lord  spake  thus  to  Ahaz,  saying."  According  to  Ezekiel, 
"  Speak  my  words  unto  them."  §  Amos  says :  "  Hear  this 
word  which  the  Lord  hath  spoken  against  you."  [  Indeed, 
as  an  able  writer  \  well  says :  "  The  direct  messages  from 
God  constitute  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  whole. 
It  includes  the  latter  part  of  the  book  of  Exodus ;  the  entire 
book  of  Leviticus;  many  chapters  in  Deuteronomy  and 
Numbers ;  the  greater  part  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah ;  the 
later  chapters,  from  xli.  to  Ixiii.  expressly,  and  in  form 
bearing  this  character ;  thirty  chapters  out  of  the  fifty-two 
comprising  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah ;  thirty-five  out  of 
the  forty-eight  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  with  some  slight 
occasional  exceptions  where  the  words  of  the  prophet  are 
professedly  intermingled  with  the  immediate  words  of 


*  2  Samuel  xxiii.  2.  t  Jeremiah  xxx.  4. 

I  Isaiah  vii.  10.  §  Ezekiel  iii.  4. 

U  Amos  iii.  1 .          IT  Garbett,  ' '  God's  Word  Written, "  p.  291. 


HO    ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION. 

God ;  twelve  of  the  fourteen  chapters  of  Hosea ;  almost 
the  whole  of  the  prophecy  of  Joel ;  six  chapters  of  Amos 
out  of  nine;  six  chapters  of  Micah;  the  whole  of  the 
prophet  Zephaniah  and  of  Haggai ;  nine  chapters  of  Zech- 
ariah,  and  the  entire  book  of  Habakkuk."  These  writers, 
as  others,  introduced  Jehovah  as  the  speaker  by  such  words 
as  "said,"  "saying,"  "thus  saith  the  Lord,"  and  closing 
with  "  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it." 

Not  only  is  there  this  internal  testimony  to  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament,  but  we  find  the  New  Testa- 
ment writers  constantly  quoting  from  the  Old  Testament 
as  the  inspired  word  of  God,  and  weaving  into  their 
argument  for  the  acceptance  of  the  new,  threads  drawn 
from  the  old.  When  proof  was  wanted  that  our  Lord 
was  the  fulfillment  of  prophecy,  we  find  Matthew  say- 
ing :  "  He  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth,  that 
it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophets, 
'  He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene.' "  *  When  Jesus  was  in 
the  struggle  with  the  tempter  He  declared,  to  the  discom- 
fiture of  the  adversary,  "It  is  written,"  followed  each 
time  by  a  weapon  for  the  soul's  defense  in  a  quotation 
from  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  In  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  we  find  the  great  leaders  in  the  founding  of  the 
Church  repeatedly  quoting  from  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
argument  to  establish  the  truth  set  forth  in  the  New. 
Peter,  in  his  Pentecostal  sermon,f  asserts  the  resurrection 
of  our  Lord  as  foretold  in  Psalm  xvi.  and  Psalm  ciii. 
Again,  when  the  fires  of  persecution  were  kindling  about 
the  feet  of  the  disciples,  they  quote  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment :  "  Lord,  Thou  art  God,  who  by  the  mouth  of  Thy 
servant  David  hath  said."  \  Certainly  if  language  means 
anything,  it  means  in  these  and  many  other  instances  that 
Christ  and  His  Apostles  believed  that  the  Old  Testament 


*  Matt.  ii.  23.  t  Acts  ii.  14-29.  t  Psalm  ii. 


ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  'INSPIRATION.    141 

Scriptures  were  of  God.  The  evidence  is  certainly  not 
less  convincing  as^to  the  New  Testament.  In  this  we  find 
Jesus  saying  to  His  disciples,*  having  in  view  the  ordeals 
through  which  they  were  to  pass :  "  When  they  bring  you 
unto  the  synagogues,  and  unto  magistrates  and  powers, 
take  ye  no  thought  how  or  what  thing  ye  shall  answer,  or 
what  ye  shall  say :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  teach  you  in 
the  same  hour  what  ye  ought  to  say."  f  "  Whatsoever 
shall  be  given  you  in  that  hour,  that  speak  ye :  for  it  is 
not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Holy  Ghost."  \  We  have  here 
the  direct  and  positive  affirmation  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
does  speak  through  men.  If  in  making  a  personal  de 
fense  before  magistrates  and  persecutors  God  sent  His 
Spirit  to  speak  through  and  for  them,  how  much  more 
should  He  voice  by  the  agency  used  that  which  was  to 
abide  through  many  centuries  and  instruct  and  guide  un- 
numbered millions  of  immortal  beings  in  that  which  is  of 
greatest  moment  to  the  individual  welfare  and  happiness 
of  each  and  of  incalculable  good  to  mankind  ? 

Still  another  objection  is  that  based  on  the  variations  of 
readings  found  in  the  manuscript  copies  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  Authorized  Version  has  long  been  subjected  to  severe 
criticism  by  men  of  acknowledged  learning  and  of  unim- 
peached  piety  and  orthodoxy ;  not  only  on  the  ground  of 
imperfect  and  questioned  original  texts,  but  also,  from  the 
standpoint  of  modern  scholarship,  of  faulty  translation. 
Bishop  Marsh,§  one  of  the  most  acute  and  learned  of  schol- 
ars in  the  Church  of  England,  said  of  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion, that  it  "  was  made  by  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
scholars  in  the  age  of  James  I.  It  is  probable  that  our 
Authorized  Version  is  as  faithful  a  representation  of  the 
original  Scriptures  as  could  have  been  made  at  that  period. 


*  Acts  iv.  25.  f  Luke  xii.  11,  12. 

\  Mark  xi.  13.  §  Lectures,  pp.  295-6. 


142    ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRATION. 

But  when  we  consider  the  immense  accession  which  has 
been  since  made  to  our  critical  and  to  our  philological 
apparatus ;  when  we  consider  that  the  whole  mass  of  lit- 
erature, commencing  with  the  London  Polyglot  and  con- 
tinued to  Griesbach's  Greek  Testament,  was  collected 
subsequently  to  that  period ;  when  we  consider  that  the 
most  important  sources  of  intelligence  for  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  original  Scriptures  were  likewise  opened  after 
that  period,  we  cannot  possibly  pretend  that  our  Authorized 
Yersion  does  not  require  amendment." 

William  Orme,  a  noted  Scotch  divine,  speaking  of  the 
common  version,  says  :  "  It  was  not  made  from  corrected 
or  critical  texts  of  the  originals,  but  from  the  Masoretic 
Hebrew  texts,  and  from  the  common  printed  Greek  text 
of  the  New  Testament.  Consequently,  whatever  imper- 
fections belonged  to  the  original  at  the  time,  must  be  ex- 
pected in  the  version.  That  it  is  capable  of  improvement 
will  generally  be  admitted,  and  that  we  are  in  possession 
of  the  means  by  which  that  improvement  could  be  made, 
is  equally  unquestionable."  *  In  the  same  strain  do  we 
find  speaking,  the  eminent  Presbyterian,  Dr.  John  Pye 
Smith,  one  of  the  greatest  Biblical  scholars  of  his  genera- 
tion :  "  Every  Christian  who  is  moderately  informed  on 
these  subjects  knows  that  the  early  editions  of  the  original 
Scriptures  could  not  possess  a  text  so  well  ascertained  as 
those  which  the  superior  means  and  the  diligent  industry 
of  modern  editors  have  been  enabled  to  attain."f  It  was 
the  opinion  of  men  like  these,  acknowledged  leaders  in 
theology,  regardless  of  denominational  affiliations,  and  the 
discovery  of  additional  manuscript  copies  of  the  original 
Scriptures,  that  created  among  scholars  of  our  generation 
a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  Authorized  Yersion, 
and  an  increasing  demand  for  a  thorough  revision  of  the 

*  "Bibliotheca  Biblica,"  pp.  37-9. 

t  "  Scripture  Testimony  to  the  Messiah,"  pp.  39  and  41. 


ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRA  TION.    143 

entire  book,  based  on  the  latest  and  most  approved  texts. 
The  result  is  the  Kevised  Version,  the  product  of  the 
ripest  scholarship  of  the  English-speaking  tongue  in  the 
two  hemispheres;  having  at  its  command  all  the  addi- 
tional light  that  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  of  in- 
tensest  interest  and  research  have  thrown  upon  it.  All 
scholars  who  have  critically  examined  and  compared,  con- 
cede the  fidelity  of  the  Revised  Version  to  the  original 
text ;  and  yet,  what  error,  fundamental  to  the  Christian 
faith,  has  been  discovered  ?  What  great  doctrine  accepted 
by  the  Church  universal  has  it  caused  to  be  set  aside  or 
materially  modified  ?  What  part  of  the  foundation  of  our 
common  faith  has  been  shaken  ?  Is  not  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion a  valued  witness  to  the  great  fact  that  through  the 
centuries  God  has  been  caring  for  His  message  to  men,  and 
that  His  truth,  like  Himself,  is  "  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  forever  "  ? 

Again,  it  is  alleged  that  "  the  fact  of  inspiration  is  coa- 
ceded,  but  the  limits  of  that  inspiration  are  not  so  clearly 
defined."  We  answer,  that  any  limitation  other  than  the 
Bible  in  its  entirety,  as  originally  given,  is  fraught  with 
interminable  difficulties  and  embarrassments.  On  any 
theory  other  than  a  whole  Bible,  what  authority  is  to  be 
recognized?  Who  shah1  say,  this  verse,  this  paragraph, 
this  chapter,  this  book,  this  Testament  is  inspired,  is  of 
God  ?  Who,  with  authoritative  dictum,  shall  declare  that 
corresponding*portions  are  uninspired,  are  of  man  ?  What 
others  are  partly  inspired  and  partly  uninspired  ?  On  this 
theory,  no  two  men  will  agree  as  to  the  inspired  and  un- 
inspired portions ;  for  it  is  purely  a  matter  of  personal 
judgment,  biased  by  previous  education,  inclination,  or 
desires.  To  do  this,  is  to  open  wide  the  flood-gates  of  in- 
difference, doubt,  and  infidelity,  with  all  their  attendant 
moral  and  spiritual  calamities.  It  is  to  wreck  the  faith  of 
men  in  the  Word  written.  It  is  to  remove  the  pillar  of 
cloud  by  day,  and  of  fire  by  night,  the  unerring  guides 


144    ALLEGED  OBJECTIONS  TO  INSPIRA  TION. 

which  humanity's  Emancipator  has  placed  before  the  sons 
of  men  in  their  march  from  the  bondage  of  ignorance  and 
sin  to  the  liberty  of  knowledge  and  of  holiness. 

Belief  in  the  unerring  accuracy  of  the  Scriptures,  in 
their  primal  transmission,  as  of  God,  both  in  the  expres- 
sion of  doctrine  and  in  the  record  of  historic  fact,  and,  for 
the  English-speaking  world,  belief  in  the  Revised  Version 
as  the  essentially  accurate  reproduction  of  that  primal 
transmission,  add  immeasurably  to  their  weight  of  author- 
ity. Sin  and  infidelity  can  make  little  impression  on  the 
citadel  of  a  soul  defended  by  a  full-armed  disciple,  accept- 
ing and  adopting  the  Bible  in  its  entirety,  as  the  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  The  minister  of  the  Gospel  who  preaches 
a  whole  Bible,  does  not  need  to  hedge,  explain,  apologize, 
and  so  weaken  the  faith  of  his  hearers  in  that  which  he  is 
set  to  defend.  The  hosts  in  the  church  militant,  full- 
armed  and  equipped  with  the  truth  of  God  as  revealed  in 
the  Word,  and  imbued  with  the  Spirit  that  accompanied 
its  deliverance,  under  the  leadership  of  Him  who  is  the 
personification  of  all  truth,  long  after  the  "poor,  feeble, 
stammering  tongues "  of  its  assailants  "  lie  silent  in  the 
grave,"  will  march  on  to  still  more  glorious  triumphs  in 
the  moral  conquest  of  the  world  ;  until,  in  God's  own  full- 
ness of  time,  in  every  clime  and  by  every  tongue  we  shall 
hear  from  the  exultant  lips  of  the  mighty  host  of  the  re- 
deemed :  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ;  and  be  ye 
lifted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors ;  and  the  King  of  Glory 
shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  Glory  ?  The  Lord 
strong  and  mighty,  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle. 

"  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ;  even  lift  them  up, 
ye  everlasting  doors,  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in. 

"  Who  is  this  King  of  Glory  ?  The  Lord  of  hosts,  He 
is  the  King  of  Glory."  * 


*  Psalm  xxiv.  7-10. 


THEOKIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

JAMES    H.    BKOOKES,    D.D. 

IT  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  Bible  itself  says  nothing 
whatever  of  the  subject  assigned  for  this  hour.  No  theory 
of  inspiration  is  presented  or  even  suggested  from  the  first 
of  Genesis  to  the  last  of  Revelation,  but  the  Book  every- 
where asserts  that  the  words  it  contains  are  words  which 
God  spoke  to  men,  through  whom  He  revealed  His  will 
and  purpose.  If  we  had  read  the  sacred  Scriptures  alone, 
apart  from  human  opinions,  we  could  never  have  thought 
of  different  kinds  or  degrees  of  inspiration,  but  must  have 
seen  that  the  writers  at  least  claim  for  the  very  language 
of  their  communications  divine  origin,  divine  accuracy, 
and  divine  authority.  There  is  no  attempt  to  explain  how 
they  were  inspired,  but  from  first  to  last  historians,  poets, 
prophets,  and  apostles  come  before  us  with  the  sublime 
announcement,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

So  profound  was  the  impression  made  by  this  announce- 
ment that  the  Jews  for  many  centuries  accepted  without 
hesitation  the  Old  Testament  books  as  coming  directly 
from  God,  and  they  dared  not  tamper  with  a  word  or  let- 
ter of  it  at  the  peril  of  their  souls.  Josephus  says :  "  Every 
one  is  not  permitted  of  his  own  accord  to  be  a  writer,  nor 
is  there  any  disagreement  in  what  is  written, — they  being 
only  prophets  that  have  written  the  original  and  earliest 
accounts  of  things  as  they  learned  them  of  God  himself  by 

inspiration For  so  many  ages  that  have  already 

passed  no  one  has  been  so  bold  as  either  to  add  anything 
to  them  or  to  make  any  change  in  them."  Philo,  although 
strongly  influenced  by  the  philosophy  of  his  times,  boldly 

(145 


146  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

affirms  his  faith,  and  the  faith  of  his  countrymen,  in  the 
fact  that  God  inspired  the  men  who  composed  the  Old 
Testament,  and  spoke  through  them  as  His  mouthpiece. 
Esdras,  who  may  be  taken  as  a  representative  of  all  the 
Apocryphal  writers,  tells  us :  "  When  the  Lord  spake  unto 
them,  they  made  a  sport  of  His  prophets  ";  "  In  the  first 
year  of  Cyrus,  king  of  the  Persians,  that  the  word  of  the 
Lord  might  be  accomplished,  that  He  had  promised  by  the 
mouth  of  Jeremy  ";  and  when  he  had  read  the  law,  "  All 
they  that  were  then  moved  at  the  word  of  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel  assembled  unto  me." 

In  the  early  Church  also,  while  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  theory  of  inspiration  was  discussed,  there  was  entire 
unanimity  among  those  who  had  a  right  to  be  called 
Christians,  as  to  inspiration  itself,  an  inspiration  that  was 
supernatural  in  its  source,  unerring  in  its  truthfulness,  and 
extending  to  the  very  words  of  Scripture.  Thus  Clement 
says :  "  Look  into  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  the  true 
words  of  the  Holy  Ghost ";  "  Ye  know,  beloved,  ye  know 
full  well  the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  have  thoroughly 
searched  into  the  oracles  of  God."  Barnabas,  in  the  epis- 
tle ascribed  to  him,  writes :  "  The  Lord  hath  declared  unto 
us  by  the  prophets  ";  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  by  the  proph- 
ets"; "Moses  in  the  Spirit  spake."  Irenseus  testifies: 
u  Well  knowing  that  the  Scriptures  are  perfect,  as  dictated 
(or  spoken)  by  the  word  of  God  and  His  Spirit."  Hip- 
polytus  says :  "  Be  assured  they  did  not  speak  in  their  own 
strength,  nor  out  of  their  own  minds,  what  they  pro- 
claimed ;  but  first  by  the  inspiration  of  the  word  they 
were  imbued  with  wisdom."  Origen  declares :  "  The 
sacred  books  are  not  the  writings  of  men,  but  have  been 
written  and  delivered  to  us  from  the  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  by  the  will  of  the  Father  of  all  things,  through 
Jesus  Christ.  The  sacred  Scriptures  come  from  the  full- 
ness of  the  Spirit,  so  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  prophets 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  H7 

or  the  law  or  the  Gospel  and  the  epistles  which  descends 
not  from  the  Divine  Majesty." 

Any  amount  of  similar  evidence  could  be  adduced,  but 
it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  up  to  the  Reformation,  if  even 
one  voice  was  raised  to  advance  some  theory  of  inspiration, 
it  was  too  feeble  to  be  heard.  The  Protestant  churches 
which  followed  the  revival  that  swept  over  Europe  as  the 
result  of  the  labors  of  Luther  and  others,  promulgated  no 
new  nor  unknown  doctrine,  when  they  embodied  in  their, 
Confessions  clear  and  distinct  statements  of  the  plenary 
inspiration  and  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  Thus 
the  Belgic  Confession,  A.D.  1561,  asserts :  "  We  confess  that 
this  word  of  God  was  not  sent  nor  delivered  by  the  will 
of  man,  ~but  that  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were 
moved  ~by  tJie  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  Apostle  Peter  saith." 
The  Helvetic  Confession,  A.D.  1566,  declares :  "  We  be- 
lieve and  confess  the  canonical  Scriptures  of  the  holy 
prophets  and  apostles  of  both  Testaments  to  be  the  true 
Word  of  God  itself,  for  God  himself  spoke  to  the  fathers, 
the  prophets,  and  the  apostles,  and  still  speaks  to  us  by  the 
sacred  Scriptures."  The  Westminster  Confession,  among 
other  like  things,  affirms :  "  The  Supreme  Judge,  by  which 
all  controversies  of  religion  are  to  be  determined,  and  all 
decrees,  councils,  opinions  of  ancient  writings,  doctrines  of 
men,  and  private  spirits,  are  to  be  examined,  and  in  whose 
sentence  we  are  to  rest,  can  be  no  other  but  the  Holy 
Spirit  speaking  in  the  Scripture." 

Even  the  Roman  Catholic  Council  of  Trent  "  receives 
and  venerates  with  an  equal  affection  of  piety  and  rever- 
ence all  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  seeing  one  God 
is  the  author  of  both  ...  .as  having  been  dictated,  either 
by  Christ's  own  word  of  mouth,  or  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
preserved  in  the  Catholic  Church  by  a  continuous  succes- 
sion." This  decision  has  been  recently  confirmed  by  the 
Vatican  Council,  1870,  which  says :  "  These  books  of  the 


148  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

Old  and  New  Testaments  are  to  be  received  as  sacred  and 
canonical  in  their  integrity  with  all  their  parts,  as  they  are 
enumerated  in  the  decrees  of  the  said  Council,  and  are 
contained  in  the  ancient  Latin  edition  of  the  Vulgate. 
These  the  Church  holds  to  be  sacred  and  canonical,  not 
because  having  been  carefully  composed  by  mere  human 
industry  they  were  afterwards  approved  by  her  authority, 
nor  merely  because  they  contained  revelations  with  no 
admixture  of  error,  but  because  having  been  written  by 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  have  God  for  their 
authority,  and  have  been  delivered  as  such  to  the  Church 
herself." 

There  was  no  controversy,  therefore,  between  the  Prot- 
estant and  Roman  Church  with  regard  to  thejplpnary  in- 
spiration of  the  Bible.  The  former  justly  assailed  the  lat- 
ter, because  she  attached  equal  importance  to  traditions, 
because  she  overlaid  the  word  of  God  with  un scriptural 
doctrines  and  ceremonies,  and  because  she  had  departed 
from  the  faith  in  several  essential  particulars ;  but  amid 
all  of  her  errors  she  has  never  denied  that  the  Scriptures 
were  given  directly  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  f  Tn3eed,  it  was 
largely  owing  to  Luther's  influence~and~to  his  rash  treat- 
ment of  the  epistle  of  James  and  the  Apocalypse,  that  lax 
views  of  inspiration  began  to  prevail ;  and  the  outgrowth 
of  these  views  was  the  most  monstrous  heresy.  Erasmus 
and  Grotius  undertook  to  decide  what  in  Scripture  is  given 
by  the  Spirit,  and  what  the  writers  were  sufficient  of  them- 
selves to  discover  and  record  ;  and  these  in  turn  were  fol- 
lowed by  Spinoza  and  Schleiermacher  and  others,  who 
went  to  a  greater  length,  until  rationalism  pervaded  and 
devastated  the  German  Church. 

When  this  rationalism  invaded  England,  impiously 
attacking  the  infallibility  of  the  Bible,  and  asserting  the 
existence  of  many  errors  in  the  sacred  pages,  those  who 
defended  it  were  weak  enough  to  admit  the  errors,  and 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 


149 


then  claimed  that  there  were  different  kinds  and  degrees 
of  inspiration,  as  the  inspiration  of  excitement,  the  inspira- 
tion of  invigoration,  the  inspiration  of  superintendence, 
the  inspiration  of  guidance,  and  the  inspiration  of  direct 
revelation.  Thus,  after  many  centuries  had  passed,  dur- 
ing which  the  people  of  God  in  the  Jewish  and  the 
Christian  dispensation  had  accepted  the  sacred  book  in 
all  its  parts,  as  coming  immediately  from  Him  and  dictated 
by  His  Spirit,  the  first  theory  of  inspiration  made  its  hate- 
ful appearance.  Happily  it  has  passed  away,  and  is  no 
longer  mentioned ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  it 
was  invented  to  account  for  supposed  imperfections  and 
errors  and  mistakes  in  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

So  it  is  with  all  the  theories  adopted  by  false  teachers 
and  their  adherents ;  and  hence  such  theories  are  essen- 
tially infidel  in  their  origin,  tendencies,  and  results.  Of 
none  is  this  more  true  than  of  the  popular  theory,  now 
held  by  the  wiseacres,  who  "think  above  that  which  is 
written,"  and  who  tell  us  that  while  the  thoughts  are  in- 
spired, the  words  are  uninspired.  No  one,  unless  he  is 
anxious  to  believe  as  much  of  the  Bible  as  suits  him,  un- 
less he  is  willing  to  set  aside  those  portions  of  the  Bible 
that  do  not  please  him,  unless  he  wants  to  make  room 
for  any  opinion  of  his  own,  unless  he  is  ready  to  abandon 
the  whole  field  to  the  enemy,  could  have  ever  conceived 
an  idea  so  utterly  absurd.  As  Dean  Burgon  has  said: 
"  You  cannot  dissect  inspiration  into  substance  and  form. 
As  for  the  thoughts  being  inspired,  apart  from  the  words 
which  give  them  expression,  you  might  as  well  talk  of  a 
tune  without  notes,  or  a  sum  without  figures.  No  such 
dream  can  abide  the  daylight  for  a  moment.  No  such 
theory  of  inspiration  is  even  intelligible.  It  is  as  illog- 
ical as  it  is  worthless  ;  and  cannot  be  too  sternly  put  down." 
As  Professor  Gaussen  has  said  :  "  This  theory  of  a  divine 
revelation,  in  which  you  would  have  the  inspiration  of  the 


150  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

thoughts,  without  the  inspiration  of  the  language,  is  so 
inevitably  irrational  that  it  cannot  be  sincere,  and  proves 

false  even  to  those  who  propose  it Though  the 

words  are  those  of  man,  say  they,  the  thoughts  are  those 
of  God.  And  how  will  they  prove  this  to  you?  Alas,  by 
attributing  to  this  Scripture  from  God,  contradictions,  mis- 
takes, proofs  of  ignorance !  Is  it  then  the  words  alone 
they  attack  ?  And  are  not  these  alleged  errors  much  more 
in  the  ideas  than  in  the  words  ?  So  true  it  .is  that  we  can- 
not separate  the  one  from  the  other,  and  that  a  revelation 
of  God's  thoughts  ever  demands  a  revelation  of  God's 
words  also." 

It  is  a  marvel  that  Christians,  and  especially  Christian 
preachers  and  professors  in  colleges  and  theological 
seminaries,  can  be  so  easily  bamboozled  by  the  devil  as  to 
accept  and  propagate  a  theory,  so  ridiculous  in  itself,  and 
so  easily  exposed  in  its  glaring  nonsense.  The  first  theory 
of  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  inspiration,  now  exploded, 
had  at  least  the  merit  of  asserting  that  a  portion  of  the  Bi- 
ble was  given  by  the  direct  inspiration  of  God ;  but  this 
wretched  theory  of  inspired  thoughts,  and  uninspired 
words,  leaves  no  part  inspired,  throws  wide  open  the  door 
to  all  manner  of  infidelity,  and  casts  us  back  for  the  hope 
of  salvation  upon  a  book  that  may  contain  nothing  more 
than  old  wives'  fables.  How  can  you  catch  the  thought  ? 
how  can  you  get  at  the  thought  ?  what  is  the  thought  to 
you,  if  it  is  expressed  in  language  subject  to  all  the  folly, 
to  all  the  ignorance,  to  all  the  mistakes,  to  all  the  inherent 
disposition  of  men  to  "  go  astray  as  soon  as  they  be  born, 
speaking  lies"?  So  far  as  we  are  concerned,  we  can 
reach  the  thoughts  only  through  the  words,  and  if  the  lat- 
ter have  upon  them  the  stamp  of  human  infirmity,  the 
former  can  do  us  no  good,  and  we  might  as  well  throw 
our  Bibles  into  the  fire,  and  ourselves  into  the  gulf  of  de- 
spair. 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  151 

Many  who  see  that  no  such  dream  can  abide  the  day- 
light for  a  moment,  that  it  is  not  even  intelligible,  that  it 
is  as  illogical  as  it  is  worthless,  in  their  anxiety  to  avoid 
faith  in  what  God's  Word  says  of  itself,  have  devised  a  new 
theory  of  late,  which  they  nail  Dynamic  Inspiration^ — what- 
ever in  the  name  of  common  sense  that  means.  If  they 
are  asked  for  an  explanation,  they  cannot  for  their  lives 
give  it,  but  content  themselves  with  high-sounding  phrase- 
ology which  seems  to  them  eminently  satisfactory.  But 
where  does  the  Dynamic  lodge  ?  Is  it  in  the  thoughts,  or 
in  the  words,  or  in  both  \  Surely  every  one  must  see  that 
it  accounts  for  nothing,  that  it  signifies  nothing,  and  that 
it  is  an  empty  term  leaving  the  subject  of  inspiration  just 
where  it  was  before.  It  would  be  vastly  better  to  confess 
our  ignorance  of  the  method  God  took  to  give  us  an  in- 
spired book,  than  to  hang  over  the  sacred  Scriptures  a 
meaningless  word,  and  then  imagine  that  we  have  fath- 
omed the  mystery  of  His  infinite  wisdom. 

There  is  another  theory,  called  the  mechanical,  and  even 
the  most  reverent  students  of  the  Bible  seem  to  agree  that 
this  cannot  be  true.  But  precisely  the  same  objection  lies 
against  the  great  mass  who  reject  it,  and  perhaps  the  few 
who  accept  it,  that  can  be  urged  against  all  other  theories. 
That  is  to  say,  it  is  a  theory,  and  for  this  very  reason  it  is 
worthless.  No  man  has  a  right  to  affirm  that  God  used 
the  men  through  whom  He  communicated  His  revelations, 
just  as  we  use  a  printing-press,  or  type-writer,  or  other  me- 
chanical contrivance  to  express  our  thoughts,  and  no  man 
has  a  right  to  affirm  that  He  did  not  so  use  them,  because 
the  Scriptures  do  not  inform  us  how  they  were  inspired. 
If  it  had  been  written  that  the  prophets  and  apostles  were 
mere  machines,  employed  for  the  transmission  of  God's 
thoughts  and  words,  we  would  be  bound  to  believe  it; 
and  had  it  been  written  that  they  were  not  machines,  we 
would  be  bound  to  believe  that  also.  But  inasmuch  as  it 


152  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

is  plainly  and  repeatedly  declared  that  their  writings  are 
inspired,  without  a  single  statement  ot  the  manner  of  their 
inspiration,  we  are  bound  to  believe  that  they  are  inspired, 
without  believing  at  all,  in  one  way  or  another,  in  what 
manner  they  are  inspired. 

It  is  a  real  relief  to  get  away  from  man's  fruitless  specu- 
lations, and  vain  guesses,  and  laborious  gropings  in  the 
dark,  and  philosophical  disquisitions,  to  the  calm,  clear, 
and  straightforward  statements  of  the  Bible  itself.  We 
turn  to  the  first  man  God  commissioned  to  make  known 
His  will,  and  we  find  him  saying,  "  O  my  Lord,  I  am  not 
eloquent,  neither  heretofore  nor  since  Thou  hast  spoken 
unto  Thy  servant,  but  I  am  slow  of  speech  and  of  a  slow 
tongue.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Who  hath  made 
man's  mouth?  ....  Now,  therefore,  go  and  I  will  be 
with  thy  month,  and  teach  thee  what  thou  shalt  say  "  (Ex. 
iv.  10-12).  It  will  be  observed  that  Jehovah  does  not 
promise  to  be  with  his  mind,  and  teach  him  what  to  think, 
but  to  be  with  his  mouth,  and  teach  him  what  to  say.  So 
far  as  the  record  testifies,  the  thoughts  of  Moses  were  not 
inspired  in  any  degree,  but  his  words  were  inspired,  and  it 
is  with  these  we  have  to  do.  Certain  learned  gentlemen 
claim  to  have  discovered  internal  and  linguistic  evidence 
that  Moses  did  not  write  the  Pentateuch,  and  then  with 
the  strangest  inconsistency  insist  that  it  is  part  of  the 
inspired  Scriptures.  It  is  said  that  when  Kuenen  heard 
of  this  absurd  position  taken  by  his  English  and  American 
admirers  and  followers,  he  exclaimed,  "I  have  exposed  the 
forgery  of  the  books,  but  I  certainly  never  thought  of  as- 
sociating God  Almighty  with  the  fraud." 

Those,  however,  who  do  not  believe  that  the  Pentateuch 
is  a  shameless  forgery,  are  compelled  to  believe,  unless  they 
are  as  inconsistent  as  the  higher  critics,  that  its  language  was 
given  by  inspiration  of  God.  "  The  Lord  said  unto  Moses  "; 
u  The  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying  ";  u  God  spake  all  these 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  153 

words,  saying  ";  "  The  Lord  called  unto  Moses,  and  spake 
unto  him  out  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  saying, 
Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  and  say  unto  them," 
are  phrases  of  constant  occurrence  all  through  the  Penta- 
teuch. It  is  plainly  stated  that  the  tables  Moses  received 
on  the  mount  "were  the  work  of  God,  and  the  writing 
was  the  writing  of  God,  graven  upon  the  tables'";  "and 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh 
unto  his  friend."  Now,  what  are  those  who  hold  theories 
of  inspiration,  going  to  do  with  evidence  like  this,  that 
might  be  multiplied  indefinitely  ?  The  words  just  quoted 
are  found  more  than  five  hundred  times  in  the  five  books ; 
and  if  Moses  did  not  tell  the  truth,  or  if  he  yielded  to  a 
weak  imagination,  when  he  so  often  and  so  solemnly  de- 
clares that  the  language  he  wrote  and  uttered  was  put  into 
his  mouth  by  the  Lord,  then  his  testimony  is  not  worth  a 
straw  upon  any  subject  whatever. 

If  the  words  were  not  inspired,  why  did  he  say,  when 
the  Israelites  were  nearing  the  end  of  their  long  Journey 
in  the  wilderness,  "  Ye  shall  not  add  to  the  word  which  I 
command  you,  neither  shall  ye  diminish  aught  from  it "  ? 
(Deut.  iv.  2).  Surely  the  meekest  man  on  the  earth  could 
not  have  attached  such  transcendent  importance  to  his 
own  word,  nor  could  he  have  said,  unless  lie  knew  they 
were  inspired,  "  These  words  which  I  command  thee  this 
day  shall  be  in  thine  heart;  and  thou  shalt  teach  them 
diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them  when 
thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the 
way,  and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up. 
And  thou  shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand,  and 
they  shall  be  as  frontlets  between  thine  eyes.  And  thou 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of  thy  house  and  on  thy 
gates"  (Deut.  vi.  6-9).  He  everywhere  asserts  that  the 
words  he  communicated  to  the  people  we;e  the  words 
God  told  him  to. deliver;  he  nowhere  intimates  that  any 


154  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

message  he  uttered  was  his  own  in  thought  or  language ; 
and  we  are  fairly  compelled  to  accept  his  testimony  upon 
this  point,  or  to  abandon  all  confidence  in  him  as  a  trust- 
worthy witness  in  any  particular.  When  the  higher  critics 
tell  us  that  he  did  not  write  the  Pentateuch,  they  might  as 
well  tell  us  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His  apostles, 
who  over  and  over  say  he  did  wate  it,  were  ignorant  of 
what  modern  scholarship  has  discovered,  or  that  they  lent 
the  sanction  of  their  names  to  a  gross  fraud ;  and  in  either 
event  they  must  be  dismissed  from  the  mind  as  not  en- 
titled to  the  least  respect. 

Turning  to  the  second  division  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  our  Saviour  recognized  and  adopted,  we  find  David 
to  be  the  principal  actor  and  agent,  through  whom  God 
made  known  His  will ;  and  we  bring  all  the  theories  of  in- 
spiration side  by  side  with  his  dying  testimony.  "  Now 
these  be  the  last  words  of  David.  David  the  son  of  Jesse 
said,  and  the  man  who  was  raised  up  on  high,  the  anointed 
of  the  God  of  Jacob,  and  the  sweet  psalmist  of  Israel, 
said,  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  His  word 
was  in  my  tongue  "  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  1,  2).  He  does  not  say, 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  thought  by  me,"  but  "  spake  by 
me  ";  nor  does  he  say,  "  His  ideas  were  in  my  mind,"  but 
"  His  word  was  in  my  tongue."  So  far  as  we  can  gather 
from  the  record,  his  thoughts  were  not  inspired  at  all ; 
and  it  is  probable  from  the  use  made  of  his  Psalms  in  the 
New  Testament  that  his  language  often  bore  a  meaning 
far  beyond  his  conception  of  its  import ;  but  it  is  certain 
that  his  words  were  given  by  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Hence  the  value  of  the  written  word  as  it  is  set  forth 
.in  all  of  his  Psalms.  "The  words  of  the  Lord  are  pure 
words,  as  silver  tried  in  a  furnace  of  earth,  purified  seven 
times  ";  u  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the 
soul ;  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the 
simple ;  the  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the. 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  155 

heart ;  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlighten- 
ing the  eyes."  "  Forever,  O  Lord,  Thy  word  is  settled  in 
heaven."  "  Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet  and  a  light 
unto  my  path."  "  The  entrance  of  Thy  words  giveth 
light."  "  Thy  word  is  true  from  the  beginning."  "  Thou 
hast  magnified  Thy  word  above  all  Thy  name,y  or  above 
every  other  manifestation  of  Himself,  in  nature,  or  in  sci- 
ence, or  in  human  reason.  In  the  historical  books  and  in 
the  Psalms,  including  the  other  poetical  books,  "The 
Lord  said,"  "  The  Lord  spake,  saying,"  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,"  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came,"  occur  about  three 
hundred  times ;  and  are  we  to  dismiss  such  testimony  at 
the  bidding  of  man's  idle  theories  of  inspiration  \  That 
word  can  do  for  us  more  than  any  earthly  parent  or 
power ;  for  "  when  thou  goest,  it  shall  lead  thee ;  when 
thou  sleepest,  it  shall  keep  thee ;  when  thou  awakest,  it 
shall  talk  with  thee."  ~No  wonder  it  is  said  at  the  close 
of  this  second  part  of  the  Scriptures,  "Every  word  of 
God  is  pure;  ....  add  thou  not  unto  His  words,  lest 
He  reprove  thee,  and  thou  be  found  a  liar." 

Glancing  for  a  moment  at  the  third  division  of  the  Old 
Testament,  known  as  the  Prophets,  let  us  compare  human 
theories  with  divine  testimony.  We  learn  that  Jeremiah 
recoiled,  as  Moses  did,  from  the  disagreeable  mission  upon 
which  he  was  sent,  saying :  "  Ah !  Lord  God !  behold,  I 
cannot  speak ;  for  I  am  a  child.  But  the  Lord  said 
unto  me,  Say  not,  I  am  a  child,  for  thou  shalt  go  to  all 
that  I  shall  send  thee,  and  whatsoever  I  command  thee 

thou  shalt  speak Then  the  Lord  put  forth  His 

hand  and  touched  my  mouth.  And  the  Lord  said  unto 
me,  Behold,  I  have  put  my  words  in  thy  mouth."  He 
did  not  say,  observe,  "I  have  put  my  thoughts  in  thy 
mind  and  left  thee  to  selection  of  any  language  that  oc- 
curs to  thee  as  suitable,''  but  "  I  have  put  my  words  in 
thy  mouth."  Hence,  all  through  his  prophecy,  "  Thus 


156  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

saith  the  Lord,"  "  The  Lord  said  unto  me,"  are  found  at 
brief  intervals,  frequently  sounding  out  again  and  again 
in  the  same  chapter.  But  precisely  the  same  thing  is  true 
of  all  the  other  prophets,  without  a  single  exception. 
Every  one  of  them  claims  that  he  was  delivering  the 
very  message  God  told  him  to  deliver,  and  in  the  words 

«/ 

of  God.  No  man  can  dispute  this  statement,  and  there  is 
not  a  hint  in  any  part  of  the  prophecies  that  in  the  least 
passage  the  writers  were  cast  back  upon  their  own 
thoughts  or  their  own  words.  "  Hear  the  word  of  the 
Lord,"  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came,"  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God,"  and  similar  declarations,  are  found  about 
twelve  hundred  times  in  the  prophecies;  "saith  the 
Lord"  being  repeated  twenty-four  times  in  the  four 
short  chapters  of  Malachi. 

Are  we  to  make  nothing  of  all  this  ?  Is  it  to  be  set 
aside  at  the  bidding  of  man's  wholly  uncalled-for  theories 
of  inspiration?  Because  he  chooses  to  fancy  that  there 
are  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  inspiration,  because  he 
prefers  to  believe  in  inspired  thoughts  and  uninspired 
words,  because  he  tries  to  comfort  himself  with  dynamic 
inspiration,  because  he  is  opposed  to  mechanical  inspira- 
tion, are  we  to  treat  the  explicit  testimony  of  the  word 
itself,  given  in  more  than  two  thousand  places,  as  of  no 
value  ?  Out  with  all  of  these  foolish  theories,  that  are  not 
worth  the  paper  on  which  they  are  written  !  Men  have 
no  right  to  their  opinions,  when  God  has  most  explicitly 
and  fully  revealed  His  truth,  as  He  has  done  upon  this 
subject.  "To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony:  if  they 
speak  not  according  to  this  word,  it  is  because  there  is  no 
light  in  them  ";  and  it  is  certain  that  the  theories  of  in- 
spiration have  only  darkened  His  counsel.  He  does  not 
set  before  us  the  foolish  task  of  trying  to  explain  how 
His  book  is  inspired,  but  to  believe,  because  He  says  it, 
that  it  is  inspired  and  verbally  inspired. 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  157 

About  this  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever,  when  we 
come  to  see  the  extent  of  the  inspiration  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  promised  to  His  apostles.  "When  they  deliver 
you  up,  take  no  thought  how  or  what  ye  shall  speak ;  for 
it  shall  be  given  you  in  that  hour  what  ye  shall  speak ;  for 
it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father 
which  speaketh  in  you."  At  another  time,  He  said, 
u  When  they  bring  you  unto  synagogues,  and  unto  mag- 
istrates and  powers,  take  ye  no  thought  how  or  what  thing 
ye  shall  answer,  or  what  ye  shall  say :  for  the  Holy  Ghost 
shall  teach  you  in  the  same  hour  what  ye  ought  to  say." 
At  another  time,  still  later,  He  said :  "  When  they  shall 
lead  you  and  deliver  you  up,  take  no  thought  beforehand 
what  ye  shall  speak,  neither  do  ye  premeditate  ;  but  what- 
soever shall  be  given  you  in  that  hour,  that  speak  ye,  for 
it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Holy  Ghost." 

It  is  impossible  to  imagine  any  stronger  proof  of  verbal 
inspiration  than  is  found  in  these  passages.  The  apostles 
were  actually  forbidden  to  think,  to  premeditate,  to  pre- 
pare their  defense,  to  give  themselves  the  slightest  concern ; 
and  this  upon  the  ground  that  they  were  not  to  speak,  but 
the  Spirit  of  God  would  speak  through  them,  that  the 
words  they  ought  to  utter  should  be  given  them  the  same 
hour  they  were  needed.  If  it  be  urged  by  those  who  hold 
theories  of  inspiration  that  this  was  a  special  promise  for 
a  special  occasion,  still  the  main  point  is  conceded ;  for  it 
is  admitted  that  God  did  sometimes  at  least  communicate 
His  own  words,  without  interfering  with  the  mental  idio- 
syncrasy and  peculiar  style  of  each  of  His  servants.  What 
He  does  at  one  time,  He  can  do  at  another ;  and  what 
He  did  for  the  apostles  when  they  were  called  to  defend 
themselves,  He  did  when  they  were  called  to  preach  His 
Gospel  and  to  write  epistles. 

Hence,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  "  they  were  all  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues, 


158  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance."  It  was  not  as  the  Spirit 
gave  them  thoughts,  but  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance ; 
and  it  is  certain  that  their  words  were  inspired,  because 
they  immediately  spoke  in  more  than  a  dozen  different 
languages  and  dialects,  with  not  one  of  which  had  they 
the  slightest  previous  acquaintance.  All  human  theories 
of  inspiration  vanish  before  the  fact  that  a  number  of  un- 
lettered fishermen  in  a  moment  proclaimed,  in  tongues 
utterly  unknown  before  that  hour,  the  Gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God,  showing  conclusively  that  the  very  words  were 
instantaneously  communicated  to  them,  and  through  them 
to  others.  So,  then,  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  were  endowed 
and  qualified  for  their  work  as  His  messengers,  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way  that  distinguished  the  messengers  of 
Jehovah  in  the  Old  Testament  times,  from  Moses  to  Mal- 
achi.  Thus  the  harmony  of  the  two  dispensations  is  won- 
derfully preserved — for  what  was  spoken,  what  was  writ- 
ten, by  men  chosen  to  be  ambassadors  and  witnesses  for 
the  truth,  was  directly  from  God  himself. 

But  was  the  inspiration  of  the  apostles,  so  distinctly 
promised,  and  so  signally  proved,  subsequently  withdrawn, 
leaving  them  to  inspired  thoughts,  but  uninspired  words  ? 
On  the  other  hand,  Paul  boldly  affirms :  "  Now,  we  have 
received,  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit  which 
is  of  God ;  that  we  might  know  the  things  that  are  freely 
given  to  us  of  God.  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in 
the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  well  remarks : 

"  This  is  verbal  inspiration,  or  the  doctrine  that  the  writers 
of  the  Scriptures  were  controlled  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the 
choice  of  the  words  which  they  employed  in  communicating 
divine  truth.  This  has  been  stigmatized  as  the  mechanical  the- 
ory of  inspiration,  degrading  the  sacred  penmen  into  mere  ma- 
chines. It  is  objected  to  this  doctrine  that  it  leaves  the  diver- 
sity of  style  which  marks  the  different  portions  of  the  Bible,, 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  159 

unaccounted  for.  But,  if  God  can  control  the  thoughts  of  a 
man  without  making  him  a  machine,  why  cannot  He  control 
his  language  ?  And  why  may  He  not  render  each  writer, 
whether  poetical  or  prosaic,  whether  polished  or  rude,  whether 
aphoristic  or  logical,  infallible  in  the  use  of  his  characteristic 
style  ?  If  the  language  of  the  Bible  be  not  inspired,  then  we 
have  the  truth  communicated  through  the  discoloring  and  dis- 
torting medium  of  human  imperfection.  Paul's  direct  asser- 
tion is  that  the  words  which  he  used  were  taught  by  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

Elsewhere  the  same  apostle  says :  "  If  any  man  think 
himself  to  be  a  prophet,  or  spiritual,  let  him  acknowledge 
that  the  things  that  I  write  unto  you  are  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord."  Again  he  says :  "  He  therefore  that 
despiseth,  despiseth  not  man,  but  God,  who  hath  also  given 
unto  us  His  Holy  Spirit."  It  is  impossible,  then,  that  he 
could  be  in  doubt  of  the  inspiration  of  his  epistles,  or  con- 
fess that  he  was  not  always  and  equally  inspired  in  writ- 
ing, as  some  strangely  insist  he  admits,  when  he  says  to 
the  Corinthians,  "  I  think,  also,  that  I  have  the  Spirit  of 
God."  It  is,  in  fact,  the  strongest  assertion  of  his  inspi- 
ration, when  read  in  the  light  of  the  "Revised  Version. 
His  enemies,  who  denied  his  apostleship,  claimed  that  they 
were  taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  he  exclaims  in  cut- 
ting sarcasm,  "  I  think  that  I  also  have  the  Spirit  of  God."  * 
If  you  false  teachers  claim  to  be  inspired,  how  much  more 
can  I  make  the  claim,  to  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  imparts 
the  very  words  communicated  to  the  church  !  This  is  the 
apostle  who  is  led  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  announce  that 
"  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God."  That  is, 
the  writings  contained  in  God's  book,  and  the  writings 
being  made  up  o*f  words,  it  is  certain  that  all  the  words, 
as  originally  spoken  or  written  by  the  men  chosen  for  this 
purpose,  were  given  by  inspiration  of  God. 


*  See  remark  by  Editor,  page  183. 


160  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

Then  follows  Peter,  urging  the  brethren  to  u  be  mind- 
ful of  the  words  which  were  spoken  before  by  the  holy 
prophets,  and  of  the  commandment  of  us  the  apostles  of 
the  Lord  and  Saviour";  putting  the  commandment  of  the 
apostles  on  the  same  high  plane  of  divine  authority  with 
the  words  of  the  holy  prophets,  of  whom  he  writes :  "  The 
prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man :  but 
holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  If  this  testimony  is  true,  then  man's  will  had 
nothing  to  do,  not  even  in  the  selection  of  the  language, 
with  the  prophecy;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake,  not 
thought,  but  spake,  being  borne  along  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
But  Peter  exalts  the  epistles,  and  all  the  epistles,  of  his 
brother  Paul  to  the  level  of  the  other  Scriptures  which  he 
says  are  inspired,  without  the  will  of  man  having  any  part 
in  it  whatever ;  and  thus,  the  inspiration  of  both  the  Old 
and  the  JSTew  Testaments  rests  upon  immovable  grounds. 
It  would  be  better  not  to  believe  in  inspiration  at  all,  than 
to  believe  any  theory  that  excludes  the  supernatural  con- 
trol and  unerring  accuracy  of  every  word  of  the  original 
Scriptures.  Between  such  a  theory  and  infidelity  there  is 
only  the  lightest  shadow. 

The  test  of  knowing  God  is  precisely  the  same  that  it  was 
in  the  days  of  the  beloved  John,  who,  speaking  for  himself, 
and  in  behalf  of  his  brother  apostles,  says :  "  We  are  of 
God  :  he  that  knoweth  God,  heareth  us  ;  he  that  is  not  of 
God,  heareth  not  us.  Hereby  know  we  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  and  the  spirit  of  error."  Diligent  and  prayerful 
study  of  the  words  of  the  Bible,  comparing  Scripture  with 
Scripture  to  ascertain  its  full  teaching,  prompt  accept- 
ance of  its  testimony  in  its  plain  and  obvious  meaning, 
and  unquestioning  submission  to  its  decision  as  of  divine 
authority,  furnish  the  only  safeguard  of  the  soul  in  these 
last  and  perilous  days.  The  Holy  Ghost,  as  if  foreseeing 
the  profane  tampering  and  trifling  with  the  word  of  God,  so 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  161 

common  now,  alas !  with  men  professing  to  be  Christians, 
closes  the  Canon  of  Scripture  with  the  startling  admoni- 
tion :  "  I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth  the  words 
of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  If  any  man  shall  add  unto 
these  things,  God  shaJl  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are 
written  in  this  book :  and  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from 
the  words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take 
away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy 
city,  and  from  the  things  which  are  written  in  this  book." 
Thus  there  is  the  most  perfect  unanimity  among  all  the 
witnesses  whom  God  commissioned,  concerning  the  inspi- 
ration of  their  messages  and  writings.  It  is  a  unanimity 
so  striking,  Robert  Haldane  truly  said  : 

"Nothing  can  be  more  clearly,  more  expressly,  or  more  pre- 
cisely taught  in  the  word  of  God.  And  while  other  important 
doctrines  may  be  met  with  passages  of  seeming  opposition, 
there  is  not  in  the  language  of  the  Scriptures  one  expression 
that  even  appears  to  contradict  their  plenary  and  verbal  inspi- 
ration." 

But,  apart  from  the  distinct  and  abundant  teaching  of 
the  Bible  upon  this  subject,  which  ought  to  settle  the 
question  forever  with  the  Christian,  reason  demands  an 
inspiration  higher  than  the  position  recognized  by  any 
popular  theory.  In  the  language  of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge : 

1 '  The  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  extends  to  the  words.  A 
mere  human  report  or  record  of  a  divine  revelation  must,  of 
necessity,  be  not  only  fallible,  but  more  or  less  erroneous.  The 
thoughts  are  in  the  words.  The  two  are  inseparable.  If  the 
words,  priest,  sacrifice,  ransom,  expiation,  propitiation,  purifi- 
cation by  blood,  and  the  like,  have  no  divine  authority,  then 
the  doctrine  which  they  embody  has  no  authority." 

With  this  all  humble  and  earnest  students  of  the  Bible 
will  agree,  for  they  see  daily  accumulating  evidence  of 
superhuman  wisdom  and  skill  in  the  selection  of  its  words, 


162  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

even  to  the  minutest  particle ;  and  never  have  they  dis- 
covered a  single  mistake,  nor  a  verse  which  they  are  vain 
enough  to  imagine  they  could  improve  after  the  most 
careful  thought  and  the  most  laborious  effort.  The  more 
they  read  the  book,  the  more  are  they  convinced  that  man 
could  as  easily  have  made  the  world  as  he  could  have  pro- 
duced such  a  work  as  this.  Hence,  they  are  not  surprised 
to  learn  that  those  who  were  employed  to  write  the  book 
are  represented  as  examining  eagerly  into  the  meaning  of 
the  words  they  had  received  from  God.  "  Of  which  sal- 
vation the  prophets  have  inquired  and  searched  diligently, 
who  prophesied  of  the  grace  that  should  come  unto  you : 
searching  what,  or  what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify,  when  He  testified 
beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that 
should  follow"  (1  Pet.  i.  11,  12).  They  were  like  aman- 
uenses sitting  down,  after  the  Master  had  withdrawn,  and 
seeking  to  make  out,  if  possible,  the  significance  of  His 
wonderful  communications.  The  more  attentively  and 
the  longer  a  believer  reads  the  book,  the  more  clearly  will 
he  perceive  that,  like  the  love  of  Christ,  it  possesses  a 
breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height,  which  he 
could  never  compass,  if  he  should  do  nothing  but  study  it 
for  a  thousand  years. 

He  is  impatient,  therefore,  of  all  theories,  and  flings 
them  to  the  winds,  that  he  may  take  the  Bible  at  just  what 
it  says.  Canon  Farrar  has  summed  up  these  various 
theories,  calling  the  first 

— "the  organic,  mechanical,  or  dictation  theory.  It  held 
that  every  sentence,  every  word,  nay,  even  every  syllable, 
letter,  and  vowel-point  of  Scripture  had  been  divinely  and 

supernaturally  imparted According  to  those  who  held, 

or  possibly  even  hold,  this  theory  [thank  God,  there  are  some 
who  hold  it,  not  as  a  theory,  but  as  a  fact]  the  Bible  not  only 
records  but  is  a  revelation,  not  only  reveals  but  is  a  religion, 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  163 

not  only  contains  but  is  the  word  of  God The  second 

theory  has  been  called  the  dynamic.  It  holds  that  the  Holy 
Scripture  was  not  'dictated,  by,'  but  'committed  to  writing 

under  the  guidance  of '  the  Holy  Spirit The  truths  are 

inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  words  and  phrases  are  the  re- 
sult of  the  writer's  own  individuality ;  the  material  is  of  God, 
the  form  is  of  man There  may  be  weaknesses  and  im- 
perfections in  the  mode  of  expression ;  there  can  be  none  in 

the  truth  revealed The  next  theory  may  be  called  the 

theory  of  illumination Some  have  distinguished  be- 
tween the  grace  of  superintendence/,  which  merely  saved  from 
positive  error;  the  grace  of  elevation,  which  uplifted  the 
thoughts  and  words  to  a  lofty  standard ;  the  grace  of  direction, 
which  guided  them  alike  in  what  they  omitted  as  in  what  they 
expressed ;  and  the  grace  of  suggestion,  which  vouchsafed  to 

supply  both  words    and    thoughts The  next  theory, 

which  has  been  widely  embraced,  may  be  called  the  theoiy  of 
essential  as  distinguished  from  plenary  inspiration.  Its  favor- 
ite formula  is,  that  the  Bible  contains  the  word  of  God,  while 
it  rejects,  as  inaccurate,  the  expression  that  the  Bible  is  the 

word  of  God The    fifth  theory  may  be    called    that 

of  ordinary  inspiration The  holders   of   this   theory 

believe  that  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  exercised  in 
the  inspiration  of  Scripture,  is  not  generically  distinct  from 
the  ordinary  influence  of  that  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  heart  and 
intellect  of  Christian  men,  which  all  admit  to  be  analogous  to 
it.  They  believe  that  the  Bible  animates  and  awakens  the  re- 
ligious consciousness  of  man,  but  they  attach  no  infallible 
truthfulness  to  all  its  utterances,  nor  any  divine  sanctity  to  its 
incidental  and  non-religious  teachings." 


But  even  Canon  Farrar,  utterly  unsound  as  he  is  upon 
this  vital  point,  and  therefore  unsound  in  many  of  his  doc- 
trines, is  forced  to  make  the  following  remarkable  admis- 
sions :  "  Undoubtedly  there  is  a  vast  multitude  of  passages 
in  which  the  inspired  writers  claim  to  be  delivering  the  di- 
rect messages  of  God."  If  they  make  this  claim  in  a  vast 
multitude  of  passages,  and  in  not  a  single  passage  abandon 
the  claim,  by  what  right  does  any  man  set  aside  their  an- 


164:  THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

thority,  and  substitute  for  their  testimony  his  own 
wretched  theory  \  Again,  the  popular  preacher  and 
author  says,  in  meeting  the  charge  that  the  sacred  writers 
sometimes  erred,  "  that  they  did  so  err  I  am  not  so  irrev- 
erent as  to  assert,  nor  has  the  widest  learning  and  acutest 
ingenuity  of  scepticism  ever  pointed  to  one  complete  and 
demonstrable  error  of  fact  or  doctrine  in  the  Old  or  the 
New  Testament"  The  italics  are  his  own, and  in  the  face 
of  sucli  an  admission,  how  is  it  possible  to  avoid  the  con- 
clusion that  God  gave  the  very  words  of  Scripture  ? 

Men  may  say  that  there  was  no  need  of  inspiration  in 
the  historical  books  of  the  Bible,  forgetting  that  it  is  an 
exceedingly  difficult  and  rare  thing  to  write  history  truth- 
fully, or  even  the  most  common  occurrences,  as  illustrated 
daily  in  the  newspapers,  although  the  reporters  may  have 
no  temptation  to  lie.  They  may  say  that  they  cannot  un- 
derstand how  God  inspired  the  words,  forgetting  that  they 
cannot  understand  any  better  how  He  inspired  the 
thoughts.  They  may  say  that  differences  of  style  disprove 
verbal  inspiration,  forgetting  that  the  very  same  mind  has 
often  used  a  different  style  in  the  composition  of  legal 
documents,  fiction,  poetry,  and  philosophical  dissertations ; 
forgetting  that  the  very  same  mind  uses  one  style  in  send- 
ing a  message  through  an  illiterate  boy  to  laborers  on  his 
farm,  and  another  style  in  transmitting  his  views  to  a 
political  convention  assembled  in  his  interests,  and  another 
style  in  communicating  the  results  of  his  investigations  to 
a  scientific  association,  and  another  style  in  expressing  his 
good  wishes  for  the  success  of  a  benevolent  organization ; 
forgetting  that  the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  in  the  believer, 
controlling  his  speech  and  actions  without  reducing  him 
to  the  helpless  condition  of  an  unthinking  machine,  and 
without  changing  his  style  or  natural  gifts  and  tendencies. 
They  may  say  that  if  verbal  inspiration  is  true,  the  four 

j         accounts  of  the  inscription  on  the   cross   of    our   Lord 

-  f 


THEORIES  OF  INSPIRATION.  165 

would  have  been  precisely  alike,  forgetting  that  they 
would  have  been  precisely  alike  but  for  verbal  inspira- 
tion, the  Holy  Ghost  requiring  the  writers  to  arrange  the 
words  according  to  His  special  design  in  the  preparation 
of  each  of  the  gospels,  and  that  all  taken  together  form 
the  complete  inscription.  They  may  say  that  it  was  un- 
worthy of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  concern  Himself  about  an 
old  cloke  and  the  parchments,  which  Paul  left  at  Troas, 
forgetting  that  it  was  altogether  worthy  of  Him  to  con- 
sult the  comfort  of  His  faithful  servant,  sending  for  the 
things  that  are  the  symbols  of  service  and  study,  if  the 
critics  had  eyes  to  see,  and  reminding  them,  if  they  had 
ears  to  hear,  that  He  will  not  forget  the  lonely  prisoner 
suffering  for  His  truth. 

But  amid  all  the  cavils  and  objections  of  foolish  and 
ignorant  men  the  voice  of  God  sounds  out  high  and  clear 
in  more  than  two  thousand  places  from  Genesis  to  Reve- 
lation, affirming  the  inspiration  of  the  very  words  of  the 
sacred  Scripture.  Sinful  creatures,  that  dwell  in  houses 
of  clay,  whose  foundation  is  in  the  dust,  which  are  crushed 
before  the  moth,  whose  days  are  as  an  handbreadth,  may 
construct  their  little  theories  of  inspiration,  but  above 
them  all,  and  outlasting  all,  is  "  the  word  of  God,  which 
liveth  and  abideth  forever.  For  all  flesh  is  as  grass,  and 
all  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass 
withereth,  and  the  flower  thereof  falleth  away :  but  the 
word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever."  "  Forever,  O  Lord, 
Thy  word  is  settled  in  heaven":  "  All  Scripture  is  given 
by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for 
reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness ; 
that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished 
unto  all  good  works." 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE  AS  TESTED  BY 
THE  LAWS  OF  EVIDENCE. 

T.    8.    CHILDS,   D.D. 

UNDOUBTEDLY  there  are  difficulties  in  the  Bible.  The 
question  is  whether  these  prove  that  it  is  not  the  plenarily 
inspired  Word  of  God.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be 
suggested  whether  they  do  not  confirm  it  as  the  work  of 
God,  for  they  at  once  put  it  in  harmony  with  all  His  other 
works.  If  the  Bible  were  without  difficulties,  it  would, 
for  us,  be  out  of  the  line  with  everything  else  that  God 
has  made  or  done.  Nature  and  Providence  are  full  of 
difficulties.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  harder  of  ex- 
planation and  reconciliation  than  are  the  facts  that  meet 
us  everywhere  in  God's  creative  and  providential  realms. 
If  these  difficulties  do  not  prove  that  Nature  and  Provi- 
dence are  not,  from  beginning  to  end,  the  works  of  God, 
they  do  not  on  the  face  of  them  prove  that  the  Bible  is 
not  such.  Let  us  not  be  misunderstood.  We  are  not 
identifying  the  domains  of  nature  and  of  grace.  There 
has  arisen  a  mode  of  meeting  the  objections  to  the  Bible 
that,  it  seems  to  us,  must  logically  destroy  the  Bible  as  a 
supernatural  revelation.  "  The  Christian  Church,"  it  has 
been  said,  "  rests  upon  an  empty  grave."  We  accept  the 
statement.  But  the  decisive  question  is,  whether  that  grave 
was  emptied  by  natural  law  or  by  the  immediate  power 
of  God.  On  that  question  hangs  the  other,  whether  Chris- 
tianity is  a  religion  or  the  religion.  Christianity  is  a  su- 
pernatural religion  or  it  is  nothing.  Between  it  and  all 
other  religions  a  gulf  is  fixed  which  they  who  would  pass 
cannot.  Its  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  Its  concep- 
(166) 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE.  167 

tion  is  supernatural.  Its  life  is  supernatural.  Its  charter 
is  a  supernatural  book.  Its  force  and  motives  come  from 
beyond  the  skies.  Its  issues  are  greater  than  nature  brings. 
In  the  recognition  which  we  gladly  give  of  the  beauties 
of  analogy  between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  worlds, 
we  must  guard  the  limits  of  the  two.  They  are  not  the 
same.  That  kingdom  of  heaven  which  He  who  9vercame 
the  sharpness  of  death  has  opened  to  all  believers,  is  not  a 
kingdom  whose  mighty  and  eternal  sweep  can  be  forced 
into  the  framework  of  natural  law.  The  incarnation  of 
Bethlehem,  the  rifled  grave  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  the 
ascension  from  Bethany  to  the  throne  of  God,  were  not 
by  "  natural  law  in  the  spiritual  world  "  !  The  difficulties 
of  the  Bible  confirm  it  as  a  Divine  work ;  not  by  identity, 
but  by  analogy. 

Another  remark  to  be  made  in  regard  to  these  difficul- 
ties is  this  :  they  sift  the  Church,  and  they  test  the  faith 
of  men.  When  the  Master  was  followed  by  a  great  mul- 
titude that  would  take  Him  by  force  to  make  Him  a  king, 
and  fleeing  from  them  was  followed  yet  again,  it  was 
time  to  prove  them,  and  in  utterances  of  profoundest 
truth  He  piled  difficulty  upon  difficulty  with  increasing 
intensity  to  the  end.  "  I  am  the  bread  that  came  down 
from  heaven." 

"  How  is  it  that  He  saith :  I  came  down  from  heaven  ? " 
"  I  am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven.  .  . 
The  bread  that  I  will  give  is  my  flesh." 

"  How  can  this  man  give  us  His  flesh  to  eat  ? " 
"  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink 
His  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you." 

"  This  is  a  hard  saying,  who  can  hear  it  ? " 
"  No  man  can  come  unto  me,  except  it  were  given  unto 
him  of  my  Father."     And  from  that  time  many  of  His 
disciples  went  back  and  walked  no  more  with  Him  (John 


168  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Often  in  the  history  of  the  Church  there  come  these 
hours  of  Capernaum  when  the  crucial  word  must  be 
spoken ;  when  that  difficulty  must  be  thrown  out  which 
shall  test  the  crowds  who  follow  the  Lord  either  to  make 
Him  a  king  after  their  own  thought,  or  to  share  the  loaves 
and  the  fishes ;  when  it  shall  be  seen  who  of  His  disciples 
will  go  back  and  walk  no  more  with  Him  in  the  unworld- 
liness  of  His  reign,  in  the  purity  of  His  truth,  in  the 
mystery  of  His  leadings ;  and  who,  clinging  to  His  hand 
through  all  mystery,  all  darkness,  all  difficulty,  will  meet 
His  question  of  infinite  pathos,  "  Will  ye  also  go  away  ? " 
with  the  answer  of  absolute  trust,  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall 
we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

In  dealing  with  the  difficulties  of  the  Scriptures,  there- 
fore, we  have  not  the  least  idea  that  they  will  all  be  re- 
moved. Difficulties  will  remain.  They  are  put  there  to 
remain.  The  Lord  of  hosts  Himself  is  a  stone  of  stum- 
bling and  a  rock  of  offence  upon  which  many  stumble 
and  fall  and  are  broken.  If  a  man  is  determined  to  com- 
mit suicide  he  can  do  it  by  the  very  means  that  God  has 
created  to  preserve  life — by  fire  or  by  water.  Spiritual 
self-destruction  is  quite  possible  through  the  Word  of  Life 
itself.  At  the  same  time  no  man  has  a  right  to  put  need- 
less difficulties  in  the  Bible,  or  to  make  difficulties  where 
none  exist.  More  than  this,  every  man  is  bound  to  deal 
as  fairly  at  least  with  the  Bible  as  he  deals  with  his  fellow- 
men  in  the  ordinary  relations  of  life.  That  which  would 
give  him  no  trouble  as  a  judge  upon  the  bench,  or  a  juror 
in  the  box,  he  has  no  right  to  urge  as  a  serious  objection 
to  the  Scriptures.  And  a  principle  that  any  court  of 
law  would  accept  as  removing  a  difficulty,  where  there  is 
no  reason  to  assume  falsehood  or  mistake,  may  reasonably 
be  applied,  and  must  in  all  fairness  be  accepted,  if  it  re- 
lieves any  alleged  difficulty  of  the  Divine  Word. 

In  testing  at  this  time  some  of  the  difficulties  of  the 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE.  169 

Scriptures  by  the  accepted  rules  of  evidence,  hardly  more 
can  be  done  than  to  present  a  few  of  these  rules  as  appli- 
cable to  these  difficulties.  But  the  rules  are  of  the  widest 
application.  The  solution  of  one  difficulty  by  them  is  the 
solution  of  a  hundred. 

Looking  upon  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  let  us  refer  first  to 
the  familiar  precept  that  every  man  is  to  be  presumed 
innocent  until  he  is  proved  guilty.  This  is  emphatically 
true  of  a  man  of  good  general  reputation.  Now  the  Bible 
is  not  a  new  book.  It  has  been  before  the  world  for  ages. 
It  has  a  character.  That  it  is  on  the  whole  a  good  book, 
the  bitterest  opposers  of  its  plenary  inspiration  not  only 
admit  but  assert.  It  is  conceded  that  it  is  entitled  to  its 
name — the  Bi~ble,  the  Book. 

Paine,  indeed,  thought,  or  rather  said,  that  any  man 
who  could  read  and  write  could  make  a  Bible  equal  to 
this.  Mr.  Ingersoll  seems  to  believe  that  he  himself  is 
the  man  who  can  read  and  write.  These  are  the  only  two, 
as  far  as  our  memory  just  now  goes,  who  have  felt  com- 
petent to  write  the  90th  Psalm  and  the  ten  command- 
ments ;  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  14th  chapter 
of  John;  the  15th  chapter  of  1st  Corinthians,  and  the 
21st  and  22d  chapters  of  the  Revelation.  Leaving  these 
exceptional  judges  out  of  the  account,  most  readers  of  the 
Bible  have  considered  it  as  something  more  than  an  ordi- 
nary book.  Its  character  has  generally  been  regarded  as 
justifying  its  title. 

It  claims  to  be  a  truthful  book.  By  every  fair  principle 
this  claim  must  be  allowed  until  it  is  shown  to  be  false. 
Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States  "  claims  to  be  a 
reliable  work.  The  claim  is  generally  admitted.  If  a  man 
now  comes  forward  and  asserts  that  it  is  false  in  whole 
or  in  details,  by  universal  judgment  he  must  prove  his 
assertion.  And  obviously  his  proofs  must  be  stronger 
than  the  evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  history.  If  this  is 


170  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

so  in  reference  to  a  book  that  has  not  stood  the  test  of 
half  a  century,  emphatically  is  it  true  of  a  book  whose 
character  has  been  established  through  the  searching  scru- 
tiny of  friends  and  foes  for  fifteen  centuries — aye,  for 
twice  fifteen  centuries.  If  a  man  now  affirms  the  Bible 
to  be  false,  wholly  or  in  part,  it  rests  upon  him  in  all  fair- 
ness to  prove  his  position.  And  his  evidence  must  be 
stronger  than  that  which  supports  the  book.  For  three 
thousand  years  a  growing  mass  of  testimony  to  the  truth 
of  the  Bible  has  been  rolling  up  in  the  face  of  every  objec- 
tion that  ingenuity,  learning,  and  the  bitterest  hostility 
could  present.  Account  for  it  as  we  may,  that  is  the  fact. 
There  is  therefore  a  reasonable  presumption  in  its  favor, 
and  in  favor  of  any  specific  statement  that  it  makes.  If 
then  we  find  in  it  a  positive  statement,  for  example,  as  to 
the  origin  of  man,  and  that  statement  is  now  confronted 
by  another  and  contradictory  one,  the  two  do  not  stand 
on  the  same  level.  The  new  claimant  must  prove  his  po- 
sition, and  to  prove  it  he  must  disprove  the  truth  of  the 
Scripture  record.  It  is  not  enough  to  show  that  his  prop- 
osition might  be  true,  if  we  had  no  other  information  on 
the  subject.  He  must  show  that  the  Scripture,  with  its 
mass  of  supporting  and  cumulative  evidence,  is  false. 
And  he  must  support  his  new  proposition  by  a  body  of 
evidence  stronger  than  this  manifold  evidence  of  ages  by 
which  the  Scriptures  are  sustained.  A  mere  conceivable 
hypothesis  of  how  man  might  have  originated,  even  though 
that  hypothesis  may  have  the  support  of  certain  analogies, 
so  long  as  it  is  destitute  of  proof  as  to  how  man  did  orig- 
inate, cannot  stand  against  the  positive  statement  of  the 
Word  of  God  that  he  originated  in  another  way.  And 
we  cannot  understand  the  eagerness  with  which  men  pro- 
fessing faith  in  the  Bible,  seem  ready  to  yield  its  clear 
declaration  for  an  hypothesis  that  admittedly  has  not  a 
solitary  positive  proof  to  sustain  it;  an  hypothesis  that 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE.  171 

logically  must  make  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God — 
if  the  term  is  retained — an  outworking  of  natural  law, 
which  outworking  ought  long  ago  to  have  been  surpassed 
by  one  born  greater  than  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

The  character  of  the  Bible  may  justly  claim  to  sustain 
its  record  till  it  is  proved  false.  Deal  with  it  as  fairly  as 
you  deal  with  the  red-handed  anarchist.  Let  the  Book  be 
innocent  till  proved  guilty.  And  if  innocent,  like  the 
Incarnate  Word,  the  written  Word  stands  a  true  witness 
in  all  things  forever.  Condemned,  crucified,  buried,  it 
will  always  rise  again.  It  is  a  perilous  thing  to  condemn 
the  guiltless. 

Another  rule  of  law  is  this :  "  The  testimony  of  a  single 
witness,  where  there  is  no  ground  for  suspecting  either 
his  ability  or  integrity,  is  a  sufficient  legal  ground  for  be- 
lief." (Starkie  on  Ev.,  i.,  550.)  The  mere  silence  of  one 
witness,  or  of  many  witnesses,  cannot  set  aside  the  clear, 
positive  testimony  of  a  single  trustworthy  witness.  That  Jo- 
sephus  does  not  mention  events  which  Moses  records,  does 
not  affect  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  record.  And  his  silence 
as  to  the  Bethlehem  massacre — even  if  no  reason  could  be 
suggested  for  it,  as  there  can  be — cannot,  under  this  rule 
of  law,  affect  the  positive  testimony  of  Matthew  that  there 
was  such  a  massacre. 

The  courts  go  farther  than  this.  They  say:  "If  a 
witness  swear  positively  that  he  saw  or  heard  a  fact,  and 
another  who  was  present  that  he  did  not  see  or  hear  it, 
and  the  witnesses  are  equally  faithworthy,  the  affirmative 
witness  is  to  be  believed."  (Decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Errors  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  vol.  6,  p.  188.) 

In  the  case  referred  to  in  that  decision,  the  court  set 
aside  a  verdict  that  had  been  rendered  by  the  lower  court 
on  the  negative  testimony  of  eleven  witnesses  against  the 
positive  testimony  of  three.  The  principle  established  by 
that  decision,  and  which  is  universally  accepted  as  law,  is 


172  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

that  the  negative  testimony  of  witnesses  present  at  any 
given  transaction,  cannot  set  aside  the  positive  testimony 
of  a  far  less  number  of  witnesses,  or  even  of  a  single  re- 
liable witness. 

The  silence  of  any  of  the  Evangelists  in  reference  to  an 
incident  or  event  at  which  they  may  have  been  present, 
but  which  possibly  they  may  not  have  noticed,  or  which 
they  do  not  record,  does  not  contradict  in  the  least  the 
testimony  of  one  who  says  such  an  incident  occurred.  The 
fact  of  the  marriage  in  Cana  is  not  at  all  disturbed  because 
John  is  the  only  witness  who  testifies  to  it.  The  rule  ap- 
plies to  that  extraordinary  doubt  of  modern  criticism : 
whether  the  Israelites  were  ever  in  Egypt,  because,  as 
affirmed,  the  monuments  do  not  record  their  presence,  nor 
their  flight,  nor  the  destruction  of  the  Egyptian  host  at 
the  Red  Sea.  Now  leaving  out  of  the  argument  the 
strong  probability  that  the  monuments  do  refer  to  their 
presence  in  Egypt,  and  the  further  probability  that  the 
Egyptians  would  not  be  likely  to  preserve  on  their  monu- 
ments the  record  of  their  own  ignominy  and  over- 
throw, the  objection  could  not  stand  for  a  moment  in  any 
court  of  justice  in  the  presence  of  the  positive  testimony 
of  the  record  to  the  history  in  Egypt.  All  the  more,  as 
this  testimony  is  sustained  by  an  extraordinary  weight  of 
incidental  corroborative  evidence,  and  is  involved  in  the 
whole  subsequent  history  of  the  nation. 

Grant,  if  you  will,  that  there  are  improbabilities  in  parts 
of  the  history  ;  still  the  courts  rule  that  "  Mere  improba- 
bility can  rarely  supply  a  sufficient  ground  for  disbelieving 
direct  and  unexceptionable  witnesses  of  the  fact  where  there 
was  no  room  for  mistake."  (Starkie,  i.,  558.  See  also 
Greenleaf  on  Ev.,  i.,  1,  14, 15.) 

That  canon,  fairly  applied,  sweeps  away  no  inconsider- 
able portion  of  the  objections  to  the  Scripture  histories. 
Take  the  great  decisive  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE.  173 

a  fact  that  carries  with  it  the  whole  Christian  system,  and 
the  verity  of  the  whole  Christian  revelation.  It  is  a  fact 
of  testimony ;  of  the  testimony  of  many  witnesses,  under 
a  great  variety  of  circumstances,  at  many  times  and  places, 
and  extending  through  so  long  a  period  as  to  preclude  all 
reasonable  or  admissible  supposition  of  "mistake."  No 
fact  of  ancient  history  can  be  proved  by  testimony  if  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  cannot  be.  The  proof  stands  by 
itself,  positive,  direct,  unexceptionable  as  to  the  character 
and  capacity  of  the  witnesses.  It  is  proof  that  the  law  of 
the  land  declares  cannot  be  set  aside  by  "  mere  improba- 
bility." And  if  this  fact  is  established,  everything  essen- 
tial to  Christianity  is  established.  The  seal  of  the  risen 
Christ  is  on  the  Old  Testament :  His  blood  is  on  the  New 
Testament.  It  is  throughout  the  living  Book  of  the  slain 
and  living  Lord. 

Another  very  important  rule  of  law  is  this :  "  In  cases  of 
conflicting  evidence,  the  first  step  in  the  process  of  inquiry 
must  naturally  and  obviously  be,  to  ascertain  whether  the 
apparent  inconsistencies  and  incongruities  which  it  pre- 
sents may  not  without  violence  be  reconciled."  (Starkie, 
i.,  5Y8.)  "  Where  there  is  an  apparent  inconsistency  or 
contradiction  in  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  such  construc- 
tion shall  be  put  upon  it  as  to  make  it  agree  if  possible, 
for  perjury  is  not  to  be  presumed."  (Decision  Sup.  Ct.  of 
Errors  of  Conn.,  vol.  6,  p.  189.)  Nothing  is  more  remark- 
able than  the  constant  violation  of  this  rule  by  many  of 
the  critics  of  the  Bible.  Their  effort  is  to  see,  not  if 
the  testimony  can  be  made  to  agree,  but  if,  by  any  possi- 
bility, it  can  be  forced  to  appear  contradictory. 

The  courts  take  even  stronger  ground  on  the  obligation 
of  harmonizing  apparently  conflicting  evidence.  If  the 
elements  of  reconciliation  are  not  found  in  ,the  evidence 
itself,  they  insist  on  the  admission  of  any  reasonable  sup- 
position that  will  explain  the  difficulty. 


174:  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

"Where  doubt  arises,"  says  Starkie  (Ev.,i.,  586),  "from 
circumstances  of  an  apparently  opposite  and  conflicting 
tendency,  the  first  step  in  the  natural  order  of  inquiry  is 
to  ascertain  whether  they  be  not  in  reality  reconcilable, 
especially  when  circumstances  cannot  be  rejected  without 
imputing  perjury  to  a  witness ;  for  perjury  is  not  to  be 
presumed  ;  and  in  the  absence  of  all  suspicion,  that  hypoth- 
esis is  to  be  adopted  which  consists  with  and  reconciles  all 
the  circumstances  which  the  case  supplies."  (See  also 
Starkie,  i.,  578,  582.) 

Take  the  familiar  case  of  the  taxing  when  Cyrenius  was 
governor  of  Syria  (Luke  ii.  2).  Everybody  knows  how 
confidently  it  was  asserted  that  Luke  was  in  error  because 
Cyrenius'  government  of  Syria  was  several  years  later 
than  Luke  makes  it.  Equally,  every  one  knows  how  that 
difficulty  was  met  by  the  supposition,  made  almost  a  cer- 
tainty, that  Cyrenius  was  twice  governor  of  Syria,  once  at 
the  time  in  question  and  once  later.  Even  if  the  suppo- 
sition were  not  as  probable  as  it  is,  if  there  were  no  other 
way  of  solving  the  difficulty,  we  should  be  justified,  by  the 
principle  of  law,  in  assuming  it,  rather  than  to  assume  that 
a  witness  as  intelligent  as  Luke,  and  with  his  opportunities 
of  knowledge,  and  with  no  motive  for  misstatement,  should 
either  wilfully  or  carelessly  have  made  so  gross  an  error. 
Here  the  rule  fits  perfectly :  "  In  the  absence  of  all  suspi- 
cion, that  hypothesis  is  to  be  adopted  which  consists  with 
and  reconciles  all  the  circumstances  which  the  case  sup- 
plies" 

In  regard  to  certain  objections  to  the  Mosaic  record,  e. 
g.,  the  improbability  of  the  desert  sustaining  the  host  of 
the  Israelites — we  select  this  as  an  example  of  a  mass  of 
like  objections — Dean  Stanley,  while  holding  in  general  to 
the  historic  fact,  says,  the  recorded  miracles  do  not  meet 
the  difficulty,  and  we  have  no  right  to  add  to  them.  For 
"  if  we  have  no  warrant  to  take  away,  we  have  no  warrant 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE.  175 

to  add."  If  by  this  he  meant  we  have  no  right  to  add  to 
the  inspired  word  as  a  part  of  it  what  is  not  in  it,  he  is 
quite  correct.  But  if  he  meant,  as  he  evidently  did,  that 
we  have  no  right  to  make  a  reasonable  supposition  to  ex- 
plain an  apparent  difficulty  of  the  Word,  no  utterance  can 
be  more  groundless.  He  might  as  well  object  that  Moses 
could  not  possibly  have  led  the  Israelites  through  the  desert 
forty  years,  because  no  man  could  do  that  without  sleep- 
ing ;  and  the  record  does  not  say  that  Moses  slept  during 
all  that  time,  and  "  we  have  no  warrant  to  add "  to  the 
record ! 

The  same  difficulty  is  urged  by  others  from  the  present 
barrenness  of  the  desert,  which  it  is  contended  is  substan- 
tially as  it  was  in  the  time  of  the  Exodus.  This  is  to  be  met 
not  so  much  by  hypothesis  as  by  the  facts — (1)  That  the 
condition  of  the  desert  was  very  different  then  from  its 
condition  now.  Because  the  country  around  Philadelphia 
cannot  now  support  a  tribe  of  Indians  by  hunting  and  fish- 
ing, it  does  not  follow  that  it  could  not  do  this  two  hun- 
dred years  ago.  (2)  God  had  undertaken  to  bring  the 
nation  out.  If  every  miracle  necessary  to  this  end  is  not 
recorded,  it  does  not  prove  that  it  was  not  wrought. 

This  suggests  an  obvious  and  very  important  considera- 
tion. Facts  may  now  le  missing  which  were  perfectly 
well  known  at  the  time  of  the  event,  but  which  have  not 
been  preserved.  Hence,  if  a  difficulty  can  be  removed  by 
a  reasonable  supposition  of  a  missing  fact,  we  are  entitled 
to  make  that  supposition. 

"Webster  (Works,  v.  6,  p.  64),  in  his  address  to  the  jury 
on  the  celebrated  trial  of  the  Knapps  for  the  murder  of 
Capt.  White,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  says :  "  In  explaining  cir- 
cumstances of  evidence  which  are  apparently  irreconcila- 
ble, or  unaccountable,  if  a  fact  be  suggested  which  at  once 
accounts  for  all,  and  reconciles  all,  by  whomsoever  it  may 
be  stated,  it  is  still  difficult  not  to  believe  that  such  fact  is 


176  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

the  true  fact  belonging  to  the  case."  The  missing  fact  that 
was  wanted  in  this  case  to  show  a  motive  for  the  murder, 
was  the  stealing  of  a  will,  or  the  purpose  to  steal  a  will,  and 
this  proved  the  true  hypothesis. 

To  illustrate  by  a  familiar  incident  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment history.  The  prophets  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  fore- 
tell the  fate  of  the  last  king  of  Judah,  Zedekiah.  (Jer. 
xxxii. ;  Ezek.  xii.)  They  declare  that  he  shall  be  taken 
captive  by  the  king  of  Babylon,  that  he  shall  go  to 
Babylon,  and  that  he  shall  die  in  Babylon ;  yet  Ezekiel 
expressly  says  that  he  shall  not  see  Babylon.  Now  here 
is  apparently  as  gross  contradiction  as  there  can  be ;  and 
if  our  information  stopped  here  it  would  be  impossible 
to  reconcile  it.  Fortunately,  however,  the  explanation  is 
given  in  the  history.  From  2  Kings  xxv.  we  learn  that 
the  king  of  Babylon,  when  Zedekiah  was  brought  into  his 
presence  at  Riblah,  ordered  his  eyes  to  be  put  out,  and  sent 
him  blind  to  Babylon.  So  that  he  saw  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon, he  went  to  Babylon,  he  died  in  Babylon,  and  yet  he 
never  saw  Babylon.  But — and  this  is  the  point  of  this 
familiar  case — if  this  unexpected  and  extraordinary  fact  had 
not  been  stated,  how  absolutely  impossible  it  would  have 
been  to  give  any  satisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulty.  It 
may  be  doubted  whether  any  supposition  as  violent  as  this 
needs  to  be  made  to  reconcile  every  alleged  contradiction 
of  the  Bible. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  the  power  of  a  missing  fact 
occurs  in  the  history  of  the  overthrow  of  Babylon  itself. 
The  Scripture  account  (Dan.  v.)  says  that  Belshazzar  was 
king  of  Babylon ;  that  he  was  in  the  city  engaged  in  a 
feast  at  the  time  of  its  capture,  and  that  he  was  slain. 

Reliable  secular  historians  give  the  name  of  the  king  as 
!N"abonnedus  or  Labynetus,  and  state  that  he  was  not  in 
the  city  when  it  was  captured  ;  that  he  was  not  killed,  but 
taken  prisoner,  kindly  treated,  and  allowed  to  retire  to 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE,  ITT 

private  life.  These  different  accounts  were  not  only 
eagerly  seized  upon  by  skeptics  as  proofs  of  the  error  of  the 
Scriptures,  but  even  Biblical  scholars  admitted  them  to  be 
incapable  of  reconciliation.  No  longer  ago  than  when- the 
writer  was  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  that  prince  of 
Biblical  scholars,  Addison  Alexander,  said  that  no  solution 
of  the  difficulty  was  known.  He  was  too  wise  a  man  to 
say  that  no  solution  was  possible.  Kitto,  in  his  Cyclo- 
pedia, declared  that  no  hypothesis  could  harmonize  the 
accounts.  Yet  the  reconciliation  was  perfectly  simple.  A 
cylinder  of  historic  records  discovered  by  Sir  Henry  Kaw- 
linson  in  the  ruins  of  Lower  Babylon,  showed  that  there 
were,  at  this  time,  two  kings  of  Babylon,  a  father  and  a 
son.  One  was  occupying  a  stronghold  near  the  city ;  the 
other  was  defending  the  city  itself.  The  latter  was  taken 
and  slain ;  the  former  was  spared.  Thus,  by  the  Provi- 
dential bringing  to  light  of  a  fact  buried  for  centuries, 
that  which  had  seemed  to  be,  and  which  had  repeatedly 
and  triumphantly  been  proclaimed  to  be,  and  which  had 
been  given  up  as  being  an  irreconcilable  contradiction, 
was  shown  to  be  perfectly  harmonious.  Yet  if  the  hy- 
pothesis of  two  kings  had  been  suggested  as  an  explana- 
tion, before  the  discovery  of  the  fact,  it  would  have  been 
hissed  out  of  court  by  the  whole  skeptical  school. 

The  two  accounts  of  the  death  of  Judas  have  not 
passed  out  of  the  field  of  popular  objection.  Matthew 
(xxvii.  5)  says  he  committed  suicide.  Luke  (Acts  i.  18) 
says  he  fell  headlong,  and  burst  asunder.  He  does  not 
say  where  he  fell  from,  or  what  were  the  circumstances  of 
the  fall ;  and  it  is  certainly  not  impossible,  or  even  im- 
probable, that  both  accounts  are  true.  The  traitor  hung 
himself,  possibly  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice — the  sup- 
posed spot  furnishes  all  the  conditions  for  this — and  after- 
ward (how  long  is  not  said),  the  rope,  or  the  limb  of  the 
tree,  gave  way,  and  he  fell,  striking  first  on  the  rocks  at 


178  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

the  foot  of  the  tree,  and  then  plunging  over  the  precipice 
with  the  result  described  by  Luke. 

The  case  is  not  without  a  parallel.  A  few  weeks  since 
the  papers  noticed  the  death  of  a  gentleman  in  one  of  our 
Western  States.  According  to  one  account,  he  perished  in 
a  railroad  disaster ;  according  to  another,  he  committed 
suicide — a  contradiction  almost  exactly  like  that  in  the 
case  of  Judas.  Yet  there  was  no  real  discrepancy.  With 
his  wife  and  child,  he  was  on  the  fatal  train  that  met  its 
doom  at  Chatsworth.  His  child  was  killed.  He  and  his 
wife  were  taken  from  the  ruins  terribly  injured.  The 
wife  soon  died.  In  despair,  and  with  no  hope  of  his  own 
life,  he  drew  his  pistol  and  sent  the  ball  through  his  own 
head.  He  perished  in  the  Chatsworth  disaster,  and  he 
committed  suicide. 

The  application  of  these  principles  of  law — the  admis- 
sion of  any  reasonable  hypothesis,  or  of  an  hypothesis  that 
may  seem  improbable,  if  it  removes  the  difficulty ;  the  sup- 
position of  missing  facts  known  at  the  time  but  now  lost — 
principles  of  constant  application  in  our  courts  of  justice — 
releases  at  once  the  pressure  from  a  large  part  of  the  ob- 
jections to  the  inspired  record.  The  accounts  of  the  heal- 
ing of  the  blind  men  at  Jericho,  and  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ, — two  of  the  most  difficult  of  full  explanation  in 
the  New  Testament, — require  no  more  than  this.  It  is  not 
hard  to  present  reasonable  hypotheses  to  meet  the  cases  as 
they  stand.  And  if  all  the  facts  were  known  to  us,  we  be- 
lieve the  harmony  would  be  as  complete  and  as  simple  as 
that  of  the  histories  of  the  siege  and  capture  of  Babylon. 

Our  limits  warn  us  to  draw  this  paper  to  a  close.  We 
are  aware  we  have  trodden  a  field  that  may  be  quite  fa- 
miliar to  the  members  of  the  Conference.  But  in  the 
multiplied  forms  in  which  the  truth  of  the  Bible  is  now 
assailed,  and  among  the  thousands  whose  faith  has  been 
shaken  by  arguments  that  they  are  not  prepared  to  answer, 


DIFFICUL  TIES  OF  THE  BIBLE.  179 

it  is  possible  that  some  of  these  suggestions  may  not  be 
without  force. 

To  such  hearers,  if  such  are  here,  and  especially  to  those 
who  are  feeling  the  brunt  and  power  of  the  skeptical  ob- 
jections that  are  pressing  everywhere,  we  may  say,  chang- 
ing in  a  single  word  the  language  of  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent of  American  jurists :  "  All  that  the  Bible  asks  of 
men  (on  this  field)  is  that  they  would  be  consistent  with 
themselves ;  that  they  would  treat  its  evidence  as  they 
treat  the  evidence  of  other  things,  and  that  they  would 
try  and  judge  its  actors  and  witnesses  as  they  deal  with 
their  fellow-men,  when  testifying  to  human  affairs  and  ac- 
tions in  human  tribunals."  (Greenleaf.) 

In  the  meantime,  if  there  are  difficulties  that  do  not 
yield  to  present  knowledge,  we  can  afford  to  wait.  Many 
objections  once  supposed  to  be  unanswerable  have  been 
answered.  And  the  process  is  going  on.  God  is  very 
patient.  But  we  may  be  assured  that  He  who,  just  as  the 
occasion  has  demanded,  has  summoned  up  the  silent  wit- 
nesses to  His  Word  from  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  from,  the 
stormy  cliffs  of  Sinai,  from  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia, 
and  from  the  sullen  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea,  will  not  fail 
in  the  future  to  give  all  the  confirmation  of  His  truth  that 
the  assailed  faith  of  His  Church  may  need. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  APOSTLES  TO 
INSPIRATION. 

T.    C.    JOHNSON. 

THE  Apostles  have  given  us  no  special  treatise  on  the 
subject  of  inspiration,  but  they  have  not  failed  to  leave  on 
record  a  number  of  clear  and  direct  statements  regarding 
it,  while  many  things  in  their  writings  are  assumptive  of 
a  definite  position  on  the  subject.  Their  evident  upright- 
ness of  character,  consistency  with  themselves,  loftiness  of 
aim,  honesty  of  purpose,  and  independence  of  each  other, 
give  the  highest  value  to  their  testimony.  It  is  incredi- 
ble, under  the  circumstances,  that  they  should  all  claim 
inspiration  for  themselves  and  each  other,  did  they  not 
possess  it.  And  if  they  were  inspired,  their  testimony  as 
to  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  must  be  accepted.  We 
shall  consider  first,  what  they  testify  as  to  the  fact  of  in- 
spiration ;  second,  as  to  its  extent ;  and  third,  as  to  its 
nature. 

I. AS   TO   THE    FACT   OF    INSPIRATION. 

The  Apostles  testify  that  the  Scriptures  are  given  by 
inspiration  of  God.  According  to  their  evidence,  we  have 
a  Bible  that  was  given  us  under  the  special  guidance  and 
direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

First.  They  testify  that  the  Spirit  was  promised  and 
given  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  them  authoritative 
teachers.  John  affirms  that  Jesus  promised  them  this 
"  other  comforter,"  who  should  bring  all  things  to  their 
remembrance  that  he  had  taught  them,  should  guide  them 
into  all  the  truth,  and  show  them  things  to  come.  Peter, 
(180) 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  181 

as  reported  by  Luke,  testifies  that  the  Pentecostal  experi- 
ence was  an  actual  reception  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whereby 
they  were  endued  with  power,  and  spoke  and  acted  as  they 
were  moved.  In  all  the  testimony  as  to  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  it  is  positively  implied,  that  it  would  at  least  enable 
the  Apostles  to  become  infallible  teachers  .of  the  truth. 
It  was  not  intended  to  render  them  infallible  as  men. 
When  they  taught  orally  or  in  writing,  it  was  their  privi- 
lege and  their  bounden  duty  to  do  so  under  the  direction 
and  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  would  naturally 
be  most  careful  in  what  they  committed  to  writing,  and 
pen  no  word  that  was  not  prompted  and  approved  by  the 
Spirit.  Thus,  we  are  authorized  to  expect  inspired  Scrip- 
tures from  teachers  who  enjoyed  the  special  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

Second.  The  Apostles  claim  inspiration  for  their  own 
personal  writings.  This  is  true  of  them  all,  if  we  may 
regard  an  evident  assumption  as  a  claim.  It  seems  that 
the  Apostles  are  either  directly  or  indirectly  the  human 
authors  of  the  whole  New  Testament.  Now,  they  invari- 
ably write  with  the  authority  and  assurance  of  infallible 
teachers.  They  never  theorize,  or  express  mere  opinions. 
They  assert  facts,  proclaim  doctrines,  and  give  command- 
ments that  could  only  proceed  from  the  Holy  Spirit,  or 
else  expose  them  to  the  charge  of  being  mere  dogmatists, 
if  not  positive  blasphemers.  Like  their  Master,  they 
teach  as  those  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes. 

Paul  and  Peter  evidently  mean  to  give  more  directly 
the  force  of  inspired  authority  to  their  epistles,  by  writing 
expressly  in  the  character  of  Apostles  of  Jesus  Christ.  To 
write  as  an  Apostle,  was  to  write  with  authority ;  and  to 
write  with  authority  was  to  write  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Spirit.  To  add  force  to  this  truth,  we  find  Paul  sign- 
ing his  name  with  his  own  hand  as  a  token  in  every  epis- 
tle (2  Thes.  iii.  17).  This  would  seem  to  imply  that 


182  TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES. 

unauthorized  and  erroneous  epistles  were  being  written  to 
the  churches,  to  which  2  Thes.  ii.  2,  3,  may  refer.  "  Nor 
yet  be  troubled  ....  by  epistle  as  from  us,  as  that  the 
day  of  the  Lord  is  now  present :  let  no  man  beguile  you 
in  any  wise."  Paul  was  recognized  as  the  true  teacher 
and  prophet,  and  his  own  name,  written  in  his  own  hand, 
was  the  token  both  of  the  genuineness  and  inspiration  of 
his  epistles.  In  some  instances  we  find  the  Apostles 
boldly  asserting  the  truthfulness  and  perfection  of  what 
they  have  written,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  would 
be  the  highest  presumption  and  folly  if  they  were  not 
conscious  of  their  own  inspiration.  John,  at  the  close  of 
his  gospel,  says,  referring  to  himself :  "  This  is  the  dis- 
ciple which  beareth  witness  of  these  things,  and  wrote 
these  things;  and  we  know  that  his  witness  is  true" 
(Jno.  xxi.  24).  How  could  he  know  that  the  sublime 
statements  in  the  very  first  verses  of  his  gospel  were  true, 
if  he  had  not  penned  them  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit ;  and  that  his  record  of  the  Saviour's  most  wonderful 
and  mysterious  teachings  were  accurate,  if  the  Spirit  had  not 
brought  these  things  to  his  remembrance  ?  At  the  end  of 
the  Revelation  he  pronounces  a  most  fearful  anathema  on 
any  person  who  should  add  to  or  subtract  from  the  words 
of  that  wonderful  book  which  had  almost  wholly  to  do 
with  the  future.  Could  there  be  a  stronger  claim  to  its 
infallibility  or  inspiration  ? 

Paul  says,  as  to  the  directions  he  gives  in  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians :  "  If  any  man  thinketh  himself 
to  be  a  prophet,  or  spiritual,  let  him  take  knowledge  of  the 
things  which  I  write  unto  you,  that  they  are  the  command- 
ment of  the  Lord "  (1  Cor.  xiv.  37).  And  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  he  wishes  it  understood  at  the  beginning, 
that  he  writes  by  direct,  divine  authority,  and  he  pro- 
nounces the  curse  of  God  upon  any  man  who  should  preach 
a  different  Gospel  from  that  which  he  had  preached,  which 


TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES. 


183 


in  this  epistle  he  restates  in  detail.  He  must  believe  or  know 
himself  to  write  as  instructed  and  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  But  this  Apostle's  testimony  is  still  more  direct  in 
1  Cor.,  second  chapter.  He  there  shows  that  the  subject- 
matter  of  apostolic  teaching  is  something  the  natural  man 
can  neither  understand  nor  teach.  "  But  unto  us,"  he  says 
(ver.  10-13),  "  God  revealed  them  through  the  Spirit :  for 
the  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God. 
....  That  we  might  aknow  the  things  that  are  freely  given 
to  us  by  God.  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  words 
which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Spirit  teach- 
eth."  Here  Paul  plainly  declares  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  author  of  the  truth  he  teaches,  and  that  it  is  under  His 
guidance  that  he  proclaims  it  whether  orally  or  in  writing. 

In  the  seventh  chapter,  verse  25,  the  Apostle  says :  "  Now, 
concerning  virgins,  I  have  no  commandment  of  the  Lord  ; 
but  I  give  my  judgment,  as  one  that  hath  obtained  mercy 
of  the  Lord  to  be  faithful."  Also  in  verse  40,  speaking  of 
a  widow  in  the  "  present  distress,"  previously  referred  to, 
he  says :  "  But  she  is  happier,  if  she  abide  as  she  is,  after  my 
judgment,  and  I  think  that  I  also  have  the  Spirit  of  God." 
These  passages  show :  first,  that  the  epistle,  as  a  whole, 
consists  of  doctrines,  commandments,  etc.,  received  directly 
from  the  Lord  by  revelation.  Second,  that  the  directions 
referred  to  in  these  passages  are  from  his  own  judgment ; 
but,  third,  that  he  thinks  or  'believes  himself  to  be  giving 
them  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit.  This  modest  claim 
to  inspiration  where  he  gives  his  judgment,  does,  in  reality, 
emphasize  the  full  inspiration  of  all  his  epistles.* 

The  term,  "  think"  in  the  last  passage  above,  does  not 
imply  a  doubt  in  the  Apostle's  mind.  The  original  word, 
dokeo,  is  ordinarily  used  as  a  modest  and  courteous  way  of 
expressing  a  strong  conviction.  So  Paul  writes  and  teaches 


*  Compare  Dr.  Brookes'  Paper  on  this  subject,  p.  159. — ED. 


184  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  APOSTLES. 

as  one  who  has  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  has  obtained  mercy 
of  the  Lord  to  be  faithful. 

Third.  The  Apostles  bear  testimony  to  the  inspiration  of 
each  other.  This  they  do  in  recognizing  each  other  as  of 
equal  authority  in  their  works  and  teaching,  and  classing 
the  apostolic  college  with  the  prophets  as  the  foundation 
upon  which  the  Church  is  built,  Jesus  Christ  being  the 
chief  corner-stone.  But  Peter  bears  direct  testimony  to  the 
inspiration  of  Paul's  epistles.  In  his  Second  Epistle,  iii. 
15,  16,  he  says :  "  Account  that  the  long-suffering  of  our 
Lord  is  salvation ;  even  as  our  beloved  brother  Paul  also, 
according  to  the  wisdom  given  to  him,  wrote  unto  you  ;  as 
also  in  all  his  epistles,  speaking  in  them  of  these  things ; 
wherein  are  some  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which  the 
ignorant  and  unsteadfast  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the  other 
Scriptures,  unto  their  own  destruction."  Here,  first,  Peter 
classes  all  Paul's  epistles  with  " the  other  Scriptures"  re- 
ferring, doubtless,  to  the  Old  Testament,  and  probably, 
also,  to  other  apostolic  writings.  Second,  he  states  that 
Paul  wrote  according  to  the  wisdom  given  to  him.  This 
most  evidently  refers  to  supernatural  wisdom.  Third,  he 
states  that  there  are  some  things  in  these  epistles  "  hard  to 
be  understood,"  which  is  not  a  reflection  on  Paul's  per- 
spicuity, but  a  recognition  of  the  supernatural  nature  of 
the  teaching.  Fourth,  he  states  that  certain  persons  wrest 
them  to  their  own  destruction.  Such  could  not  be  the  case 
were  the  epistles  not  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This 
testimony  is  conclusive  as  to  Paul's  epistles,  which  make  up 
such  a  large  portion  of  the  New  Testament.  And  it  might 
be  noted  that  in  that  little  word  "  also," — "  Our  beloved 
brother  Paul  also  wrote," — Peter  suggests  that  his  own  and 
other  apostolic  writings  come  under  the  same  head.  Thus, 
inasmuch  as  all  the  New  Testament  was  written  by  the  Apos- 
tles or  under  their  direction,  we  have  their  own  very  clear 
testimony  to  the  inspiration  of  this  portion  of  our  Bible. 


TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES.  185 

Fourth.  The  Apostles  testify  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures.  Their  Old  Testament  was 
certainly  identical  with  ours.  Wherever  they  use  the 
term  Scripture  or  Scriptures,  they  refer  to  this  collection 
of  writings. 

First.  They  refer  to  them  as  "  the  Holy  Scriptures," 
which  points  to  God  as  their  author.  Also  their  human 
authors  are  spoken  of  as  holy  men,  which  would  indicate 
that  in  addition  to  being  upright  in  character,  they  were 
under  the  special  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Second.  The  Apostles  refer  to  them  and  quote  them  in 
such  a  way  as  to  assert  their  infallibility.  There  was  an 
end  of  all  controversy  when  they  could  say  "  it  is  writ- 
ten" "  What  saith  the  Scriptures  ?  "  was  Paul's  ultimate 
appeal,  and  the  strongest  argument  for  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  was  that  its  great  facts  were  "  according  to  the 
Scriptures."  They  make  their  quotations  from  all  parts 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  refer  them  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  to  their  human  authors  interchangeably.  Quite  fre- 
quently the  Holy  Spirit  is  referred  to  as  the  principal, 
while  the  human  author  is  not  mentioned  at  all,  or  is 
mentioned  as  the  agent  or  organ  through  which  the  Spirit 
speaks. 

Third.  They  positively  assert  their  inspiration.  Peter 
testifies  that  "  no  prophecy  ever  came  by  the  will  of  man : 
but  men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  This  at  least  asserts  the  inspiration  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  a  whole,  since  the  prophetic  element  is  the 
very  soul  and  substance  of  it.  And  Paul  says  (Rom.  xv. 
4)  that  "  WJiatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime,  were 
written  for  our  learning,  that  through  patience  and  through 
comfort  of  the  Scriptures  we  might  have  hope."  They 
were  all  written  for  the  use  of  the  Church,  and  no  one 
but  the  u  Spirit  of  the  prophets  "  was  competent  to  guide 
in  their  writing.  Also  the  familiar  passage  in  2  Tim.  iii. 


186  TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES. 

15-1 7,  declares  to  Timothy,  as  in  the  new  version,  that 
"  from  a  babe  thou  hast  known  the  sacred  writings  which  are 
able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Every  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is 
also  profitable  for  teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
instruction  in  righteousness ;  that  the  man  of  God  may 
be  complete,  furnished  completely  unto  every  good  work." 
Here  the  sacred  writings  are  evidently  all  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures  and  the  "every  Scripture  inspired  of 
God  "  is  certainly  no  less  comprehensive,  while  it  would 
also  include  the  apostolic  writings.  The  Apostles,  like 
ourselves,  applied  the  term  "  Scripture  "  to  none  but  the 
sacred  writings,  and  they  nowhere  speak  of  any  Scripture 
as  uninspired,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that 
Paul  implies  such  a  thing  in  the  passage  above.  But  this 
point  will  come  up  again. 

Thus  we  have  the  testimony  of  the  Apostles  to  the  fact 
that  the  Bible  as  we  have  it  is  inspired.  We  come  now 
to  their  evidence  as  to  the  extent  of  this  inspiration. 


H. THE    EXTENT    OF    INSPIRATION. 

Some  regard  certain  books  and  parts  of  books  as  in- 
spired and  others  as  not.  Others  hold  that  while  the 
Bible  as  a  whole  is  inspired,  it  nevertheless  contains  more 
or  less  matter  erroneous  or  otherwise  for  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  not  responsible.  Some  also  contend  that  while 
the  Spirit  guided  in  the  selection  of  matter,  the  authors 
were  left  to  themselves  in  choice  of  words  and  sentences 
through  which  to  communicate  it.  But  the  testimony  of 
the  Apostles  is — 

first.  That  inspiration  attaches  to  all  the  books  in  all 
their  pails.  This  appears  in  the  testimony  already  pro- 
duced. There  is  nothing  in  all  they  say  that  would  cast  a 
suspicion  on  any  book  or  any  part  of  a  book.  To  them  it 


TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES.  187 

was  all  "  Holy  Scripture.''  Of  the  thirty-nine  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  they  quote  or  refer  to  all  but  five,  namely, 
Ruth,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Song  of  Solomon,  and  Obadiah. 
When  we  remember  that  they  were  not  quoting  to  prove 
inspiration,  nor  even  to  show  that  they  recognized  it,  this 
wide  range  of  quotations  is  remarkable,  and  demonstrates 
their  settled  belief  in  the  full  inspiration  of  all  the  books. 
Those  they  omit  to  quote  represent  the  historical,  pro- 
phetical, and  poetical  portions,  proving  that  no  class  of 
writings  was  especially  slighted. 

Second.  That  inspiration  attaches  to  each  and  every 
thought  and  expression  contained  in  the  Bible  as  originally 
given.  This  means  that  whatever  was  written  down,  even 
to  the  smallest  details,  was  in  accordance  with  the  will  and 
direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  So  that  the  writers  put  in 
nothing  that  was  erroneous,  nothing  that  was  irrelative, 
and  nothing  that  was  unprofitable.  Each  expression  had  an 
object  which  the  Holy  Spirit  wished  to  conserve.  Thus, 
John  testifies  that  not  a  word  could  be  added  to  or  taken 
from  his  book  of  Revelation  without  God's  severest  dis- 
pleasure. Peter  does  not  intimate  that  the  "some  things 
hard  to  be  understood,"  written  by  Paul,  might  be  erro- 
neous theories  of  his  own,  and  need  give  no  one  any 
trouble.  He  clearly  implies  that  he  wrote  nothing  except 
what  the  Spirit  moved  him  to  write.  Paul  declares,  in  a 
passage  noticed  above,  that  "  every  Scripture  inspired  of 
God  is  also  profitable,"  etc.  In  the  margin  of  the  New 
Version  is  the  reading :  "  Every  Scripture  is  inspired  of 
God,  and  profitable,"  etc.  This  translation  of  "pasa 
graphe" — every  Scripture — is  undoubtedly  the  correct 
one,  and  must  embrace  every  sentence  of  all  Scripture. 
According  to  the  marginal  rendering,  we  have  Paul's 
testimony  clear  and  indisputable  to  the  inspiration  of  ev- 
erything in  detail  that  the  sacred  writers  penned.  Ac- 
cording to  the  rendering  in  the  text,  there  may  be  two 


188  TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES. 

interpretations.  One  is,  that  every  Scripture  that  is  in- 
spired is  also  profitable.  The  other,  every  Scripture, 
since  it  is  inspired,  is  also  profitable.  The  marginal  read- 
ing, the  context,  and  the  general  tenor  of  Scripture,  would 
certainly  favor  the  latter  interpretation.  The  Apostle  com- 
mends Timothy  for  his  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures, 
which,  being  known  by  him  in  every  part,  would  make 
him  wise  unto  salvation,  and  thoroughly  furnish  him  unto 
every  good  work.  And  what  he  really  says  in  this  text  is, 
that  every  Scripture  is  profitable,  because  inspired  of  God. 
In  the  expression,  "  sacred  writings,"  he  refers  to  what 
Timothy  knew,  as  a  whole.  Tn  the  "  every  Scripture  in- 
spired of  God,"  he  advances  to  what  Timothy  knew  in 
detail.  The  u  sacred  writings "  are  the  Old  Testament, 
"  every  Scripture "  of  which,  being  inspired  of  God,  is 
profitable. 

The  Apostles  surely  assume  this  truth  in  all  their  quo- 
tations. The  only  evidence  needed  for  the  divine  author- 
ity of  a  passage  of  Scripture  was,  that  "it  is  written." 
The  only  criterion  for  the  selection  of  a  passage  was,  that 
it  was  applicable  to  the  point  in  hand. 

Third.  Their  testimony  is,  that  inspiration  attaches  to 
the  very  words  of  Scripture.  That  is,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  "  moved  "  the  writers,  not  only  in  the  selection  and 
production  of  thought,  but  also  in  the  choice  of  language 
for  its  expression.  This  they  assume  when  they  quote  and 
insist  on  particular  words  as  divine  authority  for  a  doc- 
trine or  statement.  Thus,  in  Galatians,  iii.  16,  Paul  ar- 
gues that  the  promise  to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  had  ref- 
erence to  Christ,  because  the  term,  seed,  as  of  one,  and  not 
seeds,  as  of  many,  was  used.  The  Holy  Spirit  had  clothed 
the  thought  with  its  proper  word. 

It  is  true  they  often  vary  from  the  original  in  their 
quotations.  But  they  vary  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit,  who,  of  course,  is  not  always  confined  to  a  particu- 


TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES.  189 

lar  word  or  sentence  for  the  expression  of  a  particular 
thought. 

But  Paul  clearly  testifies  to  verbal  inspiration  in  1  Cor. 
ii.  13.  "Which  things,"  he  says,  the  things  revealed 
and  taught  by  the  Spirit,  "  which  things,  also,  we  speak,  not 
in  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the 
Spirit  teacheth  ;  comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual." 
There  it  is,  plainly.  The  Spirit  taught  the  words  to  be 
used.  There  are  different  translations  of  the  last  clause 
of  the  verse,  but  the  meaning  is  evidently  that  of  appro- 
priately clothing  thought  given  by  the  Spirit  in  words 
given  by  the  Spirit.  John,  also,  in  warning  against  addi- 
tion to  or  subtraction  from  the  Revelation,  makes  his 
warning  apply  to  the  very  words.  None  must  be  added. 
None  must  be  taken  away.  None  must  be  changed,  for 
that  would  be  taking  away  some  and  adding  others.  Why 
such  warning,  if  the  very  words  were  not  divine  ? 

III. THE   NATURE   OF   INSPIRATION. 

We  consider,  finally  and  briefly,  the  testimony  of  the 
Apostles  as  to  the  nature  of  inspiration.  Some  would 
make  the  Biblical  writers  mere  machines  in  the  hands  of 
the  Spirit,  while  others  would  define  inspiration  simply  as 
spiritual  illumination.  But  so  far  as  the  Apostles  throw 
any  light  upon  this  subject,  they  show,  first,  that  while 
the  writers  were  controlled  by  the  Spirit,  they  at  the  same 
time  used  their  own  faculties  in  the  communication  of 
truth.  Thus,  Paul  claims  to  use  his  judgment  in  giving 
directions  and  advice  to  the  Corinthian  Christians,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  claims  to  be  guided  by  the  Spirit. 
According  to  Peter,  the  "  will  of  man  "  was  held  in  abey- 
ance, while  "  men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  The  original  word  for  "moved"  isjyhero, 
"  to  bear."  The  writers  were  ~borne  along  in  their  work 
by  the  Spirit.  The  Spirit's  will,  instead  of  their  own,  pre- 


190  TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES, 

sided  over  their  faculties.  It  was  the  men  who  spak< 
using  their  own  faculties,  their  own  style,  their  own 
tongue,  and  even  their  own  vocabulary ;  but  they  spake 
as  moved,  not  by  their  own  will  or  reason,  but  by  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

This  same  testimony  also  shows,  in  the  second  place, 
that  inspiration  is  much  more  than  spiritual  illumination. 
This  latter  would  not  exclude  the  "  will  of  man."  It 
might  enable  him  to  understand  and  speak  the  truth  with 
fluency  and  power,  but  he  would  speak  as  elevated  and  in- 
fluenced by  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  not  as  moved  thereby  in 
such  a  way  that  the  Spirit  would  be  responsible  for  all 
that  he  should  say. 

The  wisdom  with  which  Paul  wrote,  according  to  his- 
own  testimony  and  that  of  Peter,  was  a  wisdom  not  of 
this  world;  not  even  human  wisdom  illuminated.  It 
was  the  wisdom  of  the  Spirit  that  enabled  him  to  wrrite 
things  future,  things  supernatural,  and  things  perfectly 
adapted  to  human  needs. 

Still  another  point,  in  the  third  place,  stands  out  clear 
enough  in  this  testimony.  It  is  that  the  fundamental 
idea  in  inspiration  is  that  men  were  rendered  infallible 
in  the  communication  of  matter,  whether  of  truth  re- 
vealed, truth  discovered,  sins  and  follies  of  devils  and 
men,  mere  personal  matters  between  the  writers  and  oth- 
ers, or  what  not.  They  recognize  the  vast  difference  be- 
tween receiving,  whether  by  revelation  or  otherwise,  and 
communicating  to  others.  Men  spake  as  they  were 
moved.  Paul  wrote  according  to  the  wisdom  given  him. 
The  things  which  he  wrote  were  the  commandments  of 
God.  They  all  spake  or  wrote  as  the  Spirit  gave  them 
utterance.  In  many  cases  the  inspiration  embraces  the 
receiving,  but  in  every  case  it  attaches  to  the  communi- 
cating. Herein  is  the  very  soul  of  the  great  doctrine,  as 
shown  by  all  the  apostolic  testimony.  This  thought  in 


TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES. 


191 


connection  with  the  nature  of  inspiration  also  emphasizes 
the  truth  of  verbal  inspiration.  To  give  up  verbal  in- 
spiration would  indeed  be  to  give  up  the  very  soul  of 
the  doctrine.  The  Apostles  clearly  teach  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  so  inspired  men  as  to  make  their  writings  His 
own. 

We  are  left  in  the  dark  as  to  the  exact  method  of  the 
Spirit's  operation  on  the  mind  in  His  work  of  inspiration. 
But  it  is  sufficient  for  us  that  the  apostolic  testimony  falls 
in  with  all  other  in  assuring  us  a  Bible  that  is  without 
any  mixture  of  error,  and  is  for  us  a  perfect  rule  of  faith 
and  practice. 

"We  have  said  that  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  this 
testimony  of  the  Apostles  is  of  the  very  highest  value. 
Paul  and  Peter  and  John  have  been  examined  as  the  chief 
witnesses.  If  modern  critics  would  look  upon  the  two 
latter  as  unlearned  men,  not,  capable  of  taking  a  critical 
view  of  the  subject,  they  certainly  cannot  so  look  upon 
Paul.  Though  they  regard  the  human  intellect  of  Jesus 
as  untrained  and  unscientific,  yet  they  cannot  deny  to 
Paul,  both  morally  and  intellectually,  the  ability  to  cope 
with  any  of  them  in  the  search  after  truth.  He  is  their 
equal  at  least  in  social  standing,  in  intellectual  power,  in 
mental  training,  in  the  love  of  truth,  and  in  critical  in- 
sight. He  was  a  master  in  Roman  law  and  learning. 
He  had  studied  the  Greek  poets  and  was  versed  in  her 
philosophy,  and  he  certainly  knew  as  much  about  the 
character  and  genius  of  the  Hebrew  language,  which  to 
him  was  a  living  tongue,  as  those  in  our  day  who  pride 
themselves  on  being  experts  in  the  "higher  criticism." 
Men  talk  about  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  if 
wisdom  had  never  entered  the  world  before  its  dawn. 
There  are  many  things  which  the  world  knows  now  that 
Paul  was  ignorant  of ;  but  upon  a  thousand  things,  and 
especially  upon  the  subject  in  hand,  he  was  by  far  more 


192  TESTIMONY  OF   THE  APOSTLES. 

competent  to  sit  in  judgment  than  any  scientific  or  philo- 
logical expert  of  the  present  day. 

We  listen  to  the  jargon  of  biblical  criticism  of  to-day 
that  comes  from  the  giant  intellects  on  both  sides  of  the 
waters.  "We  admire  the  learning  and  research  and  respect 
the  honesty  of  many  of  them ;  while  we  are  left  in  utter 
confusion  as  to  just  how  much  Scripture  we  have,  or 
whether  indeed  we  have  any  or  not.  From  these  we  turn 
to  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  In 
breadth  of  intellect,  in  sweep  of  vision,  in  consecration  to 
the  truth,  and  in  originality  of  research,  he  is  more  than  a 
match  for  all  of  them.  While  he  speaks  from  the  van- 
tage-ground of  a  nearer  and  clearer  view,  and  of  a  much 
"  higher  criticism  "  than  any  of  their  most  able  exponents, 
whose  testimony  shall  we  receive  ?  For  my  own  part,  I 
would  not  exchange  an  uninspired  opinion  of  the  Apostle 
Paul  on  the  things  concerning  the  kingdom  of  Christ  for 
the  mature  and  unanimous  verdict  of  all  these  modern 
critics  combined.  What  the  Apostle  gives  us  is  reasonable, 
clear,  and  convincing,  and  provides  us  with  a  sure  founda- 
tion on  which  to  stand.  He  seals  to  us  the  "  faithful  say- 
ing and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,"  that  "  all  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God."  And  while  he  and  the 
other  Apostles  bear  their  perpetual  testimony  down 
through  the  ages,  there  comes  also  the  ever-living,  never- 
changing  voice  from  above,  "  These  are  my  witnesses, 
hear  ye  them." 


THE  WONDEKFUL  BOOK 

JAMES    E.    GILBERT,    D.D. 

THE  honey-bee  constructs  a  waxen  cell  and  deposits 
therein  its  future  food,  made  of  sweet  juices  extracted 
from  the  flowers.  Men  marvel  at  the  tiny  store-house,  its 
delicious  contents,  and  the  adaptation  of  each  to  the  other, 
as  exhibitions  of  an  intelligence  and  skill  possessed  only 
by  the  provident  insect.  So  our  Bible  is  a  depository  of 
precious  truths.  Its  structure  is  unique,  well  fitted  to  re- 
ceive and  preserve  what  is  there  laid  up  for  the  edification 
and  comfort  of  mankind.  The  volume  presents  to  the 
student  of  to-day  a  series  of  wonders — the  marks  of  its 
superhuman  authorship. 

I.  The  first  wonder  which  we  shall  mention  is  the  unity 
of  its  Testaments. 

The  two  great  parts  into  which  the  book  is  divided  were 
written  to  set  forth  two  great  systems  of  religion — the 
Jewish  and  the  Christian.  Outwardly  these  religions  were 
totally  dissimilar.  The  former  was  designed  for  a  single 
people — the  descendants  of  Abraham.  It  was  in  close 
relations  with  the  civil  government.  Its  ministers  and 
houses  of  worship  were  supported  chiefly  from  the  public 
treasury,  and  were  frequently  used  as  political  agencies. 
It  had  an  elaborate  and  expensive  ceremonial.  It  enacted 
many  laws  for  the  preservation  of  race  purity,  for  the  in- 
tegrity and  defense  of  the  nation,  for  the  good  order  of 
society,  for  the  regulation  of  domestic  life,  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  priesthood,  for  the  observance  of  times 
and  seasons,  and  for  the  administration  of  rites. 

(193) 


194  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK. 

The  Christian  religion  was  designed  for  all  the  posterity 
of  Adam ;  it  offered  no  barrier  to  the  freest  intercourse 
of  the  races ;  it  required  every  disciple  to  be  a  world-wide 
propagandist.  It  sought  no  alliance  with  the  State, — it 
allowed  none;  it  openly  proclaimed  its  kingdom  as  not 
of  this  world.  It  depended  not  upon  taxes,  but  upon 
gifts,  and  it  measured  these  not  by  tithes,  but  by  ability. 
It  prescribed  no  forms  of  worship ;  its  only  ordinances, 
the  initiative  baptism  and  the  memorial  supper,  were  not 
regulated  by  rules.  It  compressed  all  laws  into  two — love 
to  God  and  love  to  man. 

The  Testaments  are  full  records  of  these  widely  dis- 
similar religions — their  rise,  progress,  and  establishment ; 
their  doctrine,  practice,  and  spirit.  So  perfect  are  the 
records  that  the  devotee  might  have  learned  therein  con- 
cerning all  his  duties  and  privileges,  and,  if  both  systems 
of  religion  were  to  perish  from  the  earth,  they  might  be 
reproduced,  with  all  their  distinguishing  characteristics, 
from  these  same  old  documents.  And  yet  the  two  Testa- 
ments, written  by  two  classes  of  men  for  distinct  and  sep- 
arate purposes,  when  brought  together  are  found  to  be 
parts  of  one  great  whole.  There  is  a  vital  and  organic 
connection  between  them.  Neither  is  perfect  without  the 
other.  In  fact  the  New  is  an  expected  outcome  and  prod- 
uct, the  natural  expansion  and  complement  of  the  Old. 
And  what  is  more  remarkable — on  reading  the  entire  vol- 
ume, whose  two  Testaments  are  bound  together  by  delicate 
threads  running  through  both — one  discovers  that  in  re- 
ality there  were  not  two  religions,  ~but  one  religion  ;  that 
Judaism  was  the  preparatory  and  Christianity  the  final 
form  of  one  great  covenant  between  the  eternal  Father 
and  His  erring  children. 

How  shall  such  unity  be  explained  ?  It  could  not  have 
been  fortuitous.  Neither  could  it  have  come  through  hu- 
man wisdom  alone.  For  who  shall  penetrate  below  the 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  195 

surface  of  things  and  discover  the  purpose  of  the  Al- 
mighty ?  And  who  shall  so  describe  passing  events  that 
in  the  sequel  they  shall  appear  but  parts  of  one  plan  cover- 
ing the  ages  ?  And  who  is  able  to  make  dissimilar  things 
agree  ?  Besides,  the  conditions  under  which  the  Biblical 
writers  performed  their  tasks  precluded  any  concerted 
action  among  them.  The  Old  Testament,  completed  four 
centuries  before  the  Christian  era  began,  could  not  have 
been  shaped  with  reference  to  subsequent  writings.  The 
New  Testament  penmen,  acting  as  mere  men,  had  many 
reasons  for  laying  an  entirely  new  foundation.  Christi- 
anity came  to  succeed  or  displace  Judaism.  It  proposed 
to  abolish  venerable  institutions  as  no  longer  needed,  and 
change  the  customs  and  manners  of  the  people.  How  nat- 
ural the  inference  that  with  these  institutions,  customs, 
and  manners,  the  books  wherein  they  were  taught  should 
likewise  be  rejected  !  Many  well-informed  disciples  have 
reached  that  conclusion :  sects  have  been  built  upon  it. 
Moreover,  the  founders  of  the  Christian  system  were 
hated  and  persecuted  by  the  dignitaries  of  the  Jewish 
Church.  Remembering  the  death  of  their  Master,  smart- 
ing under  a  sense  of  personal  wrong,  how  could  the  writers 
of  the  New  Testament  become  the  authors  of  the  second 
half  of  the  sacred  volume,  ingeniously  fitting  it  to  the 
first  half  then  in  the  custody  of  their  enemies  ? 

It  may  be  replied  that  Christianity  was  evolved  from 
Judaism ;  that  Christ  fulfilled  Messianic  prophecies ;  that 
the  writers  only  recognized  what  had  become  historic; 
and  that  their  only  hope  of  success  was  to  show  the  con- 
nection between  the  old  and  the  new.  Grant  all  this.  But 
if  there  was  an  evolution,  there  must  have  been  an  invo- 
lution. It  follows  that  God  established  Judaism  with 
su*h  inherent  properties  that  in  the  fullness  of  time  it 
could  be  transformed  into  Christianity,  and  the  essentials 
of  spiritual  life  be  retained.  But  how  were  a  few  men 


196  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK, 

qualified  to  note  the  transformation  ?  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
did  not  meet  the  Jewish  expectation  of  the  Messiah.  The 
doctors  of  that  time  interpreted  the  prophecies  as  pointing 
to  an  earthly  prince.  Even  the  followers  of  Jesus,  being 
Jews,  imbibed  these  notions  and  held  them  tenaciously. 
Shortly  after  His  crucifixion  they  cried  in  sorrow,  "  We 
trusted  that  it  had  been  He  which  should  have  redeemed 
Israel,"  and  after  His  resurrection  they  eagerly  inquired 
of  Him,  "  Lord,  wilt  Thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  ? "  It  is  evident  that  during  the  entire 
earthly  career  of  Jesus,  His  followers  knew  Him  not.  To 
be  sure,  very  early  in  the  ministry,  Andrew  said,  "We 
have  found  the  Messias,"  and  Philip  said,  "  We  have  found 
Him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did 
write";  and, later,  Peter  exclaimed,  "Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  But  if  they  believed  Him  to 
be  divine,  the  long  promised  one,  it  is  certain  that  they 
regarded  Him  only  as  the  deliverer  of  their  nation  from 
the  Roman  power. 

How,  then,  were  these  men  divested  of  such  opinions  ? 
How  did  they  afterward  learn  the  spiritual  mission  of  Je- 
sus ?  How  did  they  come  at  the  true  sense  of  the  Old 
Testament  which  the  learned  men  had  failed  to  acquire 
by  dih'gent  study  ?  And  how,  with  these  improved  ideas, 
could  they,  unlettered  and  unknown,  write  treatises  which, 
in  after-ages,  should  be  accepted  as  faithful  expositions  of 
the  writings  of  the  old  prophets  ?  There  is  but  one  rea- 
sonable answer  to  these  questions,  and  that  is  given  in  the 
writings  themselves — they  were  divinely  helped.  We  are 
expressly  told  that  Peter's  imperfect  faith  was  not  by  the 
unassisted  exercise  of  his  powers,  for  Jesus  said,  "  Flesh 
and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  Toward  the  close  of  His  ministry, 
the  Master  informed  His  disciples  that  after  His  departure 
the  Holy  Spirit  should  come  to  them  and  lead  them  into 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  197 

all  truth,  and  added,  "He"— that  is,  the  Spirit— " shall 
testify  of  me."  "He  shall  take  of  the  things  of  mine,  and 
show  them  unto  you."  Paul  said,  "  It  pleased  God  to  re- 
veal His  Son  in  me  ";  and,  in  his  first  letter  to  the  Corin- 
thians, he  declared,  "No  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the 
Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  short  the  new  con- 
ception of  Jesus  which  constitutes  the  chief  feature  of 
the  New  Testament,  was  obtained  by  inspiration.  "Holy 
men  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

II.  This  brings  us  to  another  Biblical  wonder,  the 
symmetrical  growth  of  each  Testament. 

If,  in  a  brief  space  of  time,  a  man,  or  a  company  of 
men,  had  written  a  treatise  on  Judaism  or  Christianity, 
an  orderly  handling  of  either  subject  might  be  expected. 
But  the  Testaments  were  not  produced  in  that  way.  They 
were  formed  gradually — they  grew.  About  thirty  differ- 
ent men,  residing  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  Palestine,  and  Bab- 
ylon, were  employed  on  the  Old  Testament,  and  they 
were  distributed  over  eleven  centuries,  beginning  with 
1500  B.C.,  very  few  of  them  being  contemporary.  The 
New  Testament  was  written  by  eight  men,  scattered 
about  the  Roman  empire,  having  but  little  association 
together,  and  they  were  occupied,  from  first  to  last,  about 
sixty  years.  What  might  be  expected  under  such  cir- 
cumstances? Just  what  always  occurs  in  every  depart- 
ment of  purely  human  endeavor,  provided  these  men 
wrote  self-moved.  Whatever  man  does  is  imperfect. 
They  who  come  after  discover  and  correct  the  mistakes 
of  those  who  went  before.  Each  Testament,  therefore,  if 
it  was  the  work  of  men,  ought  to  present  a  series  of  ad- 
vances from  error  to  truth,  from  lesser  to  fuller  knowl- 
edge. 

What  did  occur?  Samuel  did  not  correct  Moses:  Malachi 
did  not  dispute  Samuel.  The  thirty  writers  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament are  in  full  accord  throughout.  The  work  of  each, 


198  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK. 

perfect  in  itself,  needed  no  revision.  No  one  assumed  supe- 
riority over  another.  Each  accepted  at  its  full  original  value 
what  his  predecessors  wrote.  Each  liad  one  and  the  same 
great  theme,  religion — the  same  religion,  always  the 
same  religion.  No  one,  however  religion  fared  among 
the  people,  whether  it  was  received  or  rejected,  appeared 
to  know  any  defect  in  religion,  or  dream  of  any  change 
in  it.  Each  taught  with  boldness  the  same  great  funda- 
mental and  saving  truths,  whether  men  would  hear  or 
forbear.  Each  had  one  end  in  view,  to  testify  of  the 
promised  Saviour,  who  was  coming  through  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  and  to  prepare  for  His  advent.  And,  when  the 
last  sentence  was  written,  that  purpose  was  as  successfully 
accomplished  as  if,  living  in  the  same  city  at  the  same 
time,  they  had  been  permitted  to  hold  frequent  confer- 
ence ibr  the  joint  performance  of  such  a  task  under  spe- 
cific directions,  with  the  materials  carefully  collected  and 
placed  in  their  hands. 

So  it  was  with  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  Judaizing  influence  at  Jerusalem,  tending  to  cere- 
monial bondage, — the  subtle  speculations  of  Grecian  phi- 
losophers, tending  toward  Gnosticism, — the  abominations 
of  Paganism,  intrenched  at  the  capital  of  the  empire, 
working  toward  ecclesiastical  imperialism, — the  unrest 
and  hatred  of  subdued  provinces  provoking  revolt  and 
tumult, — the  intrigues  of  ambitious  men  seeking  place  and 
pi  under, — the  distinctions  of  race  and  rank,  causing  endless 
discussions  concerning  natural  and  acquired  rights, — the 
persecutions  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  breaking  up  their 
homes,  and  casting  them  out  into  the  world  as  strangers, — 
these,  and  many  other  circumstances  by  which  the  early 
Christian  Church  was  distracted,  did  not  move  those  eight 
men  from  a  common  purpose.  Working  apart,  they 
worked  together.  They  were  never  diverted  from  their 
one  theme,  religion — the  same  religion  taught  in  the  Old 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  199 

Testament,  but  that  religion  now  a  gospel,  tne  promised 
Saviour  having  become  historic.  They  never  criticise  or 
oppose  each  other.  Each  appears  to  have  a  definite  part. 
Their  completed  writings  show  in  an  orderly  and  beauti- 
ful manner  how  the  Christ  came,  how  He  established  His 
kingdom,  how  He  invited  all  men  into  it,  how  He  treats 
those  who  enter,  how  finally  that  kingdom  shall  become 
universal. 

The  marvellous  symmetry  of  the  Testaments  will  fur- 
ther appear  in  the  logical  order  of  the  books  of  which 
they  are  composed.  Our  English  version  exhibits  a  prog- 
ress that  is  not  only  historical  and  dispensation al,  but 
natural.  In  each  Testament  there  is  first  history,  then 
doctrine,  afterward  prophecy, — not  to  say  that  any  part 
is  wholly  destitute  of  any  one  of  these  elements,  for  then 
it  would  have  been  worthless  in  the  period  and  polity  to 
which  it  belonged,  but  that  the  chief  characteristics  are 
as  indicated.  The  whole  Bible,  its  two  Testaments  joined, 
is  in  six  great  sections, — history,  doctrine,  prophecy, 
history,  doctrine,  prophecy.  And  this  is  the  order  in 
which  all  truth  must  unfold.  Facts  must  be  gathered 
before  principles  can  be  discovered  and  stated.  But 
every  fundamental  tenet,  every  governing  law  of  conduct, 
prompts  to  the  diligent  search  for  more-extended  applica- 
tions, and  this  leads  out  into  the  realm  of  the  unknown. 
Doctrine  is  the  child  of  history  and  the  parent  of  proph- 
ecy, and  prophecy  is  only  history  written  in  advance. 
Thus,  each  Testament  is  built  as  a  perfect  mind  might  be 
expected  to  build  it — the  record  of  what  has  been,  the 
rule  of  what  ought  to  be,  the  promise  of-  what  shall  be. 
Precisely  so  every  science  has  its  data,  its  laws,  and  its 
hypotheses. 

The  symmetry  appears,  also,  iu  the  adaptation  of  the 
form  and  dimensions  of  the  several  parts.  This  admits 
of  very  extended  illustration.  We  have  time  for  a  few 


200  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK. 

points  only.  Consider  the  historical  part.  Its  purpose 
is  to  show  that  back  of  all  natural  phenomena,  and  back 
of  all  human  endeavor,  there  is  a  supreme  intelligence,  a 
benevolent  spirit,  working  according  to  its  own  will. 
Men  are  represented  as  acting  freely,  but  results  are  pro- 
duced which  human  wisdom  could  never  have  conceived 
nor  human  power  executed.  Nature's  forces,  ordinarily 
operating  according  to  an  established  method,  are  made 
at  times  to  obey  a  superior  force,  handling  them  for  a 
special  end.  Now,  in  the  Old  Testament,  this  exhibit  is 
made  in  creation,  in  families,  in  tribes,  and  in  nations. 
The  condition  of  the  ancient  world  required  it  to  be  made 
there  first,  and  in  that  order.  The  individual  must  be 
delivered  from  the  world  of  sense,  from  absolute  subjec- 
tion to  father,  and  chief,  and  king,  before  he  can  as- 
sume his  rightful  place  as  a  creature  of  God.  The  im- 
portance of  this  work  would  lead  us  to  expect  that  it 
would  not  be  hastily  done.  The  seventeen  books  of  Old 
Testament  history,  sketching  thirty-five  centuries,  fully 
meet  this  expectation.  The  broader  the  generalization, 
the  more  reliable  the  conclusion.  Passing  over  to  New 
Testament  history,  we  find  the  supernatural  displayed, 
not  in  nature,  not  in  families,  not  in  tribes,  not  in  na- 
tions, as  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  in  man  and  in  the 
church.  The  four  gospels'  are  four  witnesses  that  God 
came  into  humanity,  in  the  land  of  the  Jews,  and  seeks 
to  come  into  universal  humanity.  This  exalts  the  indi- 
vidual from  the  creature  to  the  child  state.  The  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  display  the  ecclesia,  or  congregation  of  indi- 
viduals into  whose  livej  God  has  come,  whom  He  has 
united  for  His  service.  Is  not  such  history  marvellous  ? 

Turn  now  to  the  doctrinal  books,  in  which  are  given  the 
principles  and  maxims  drawn  from  the  history.  Here 
again  we  shall  find  progress,  proportion,  and  beauty.  Old 
Testament  doctrine  is  in  five  books,  all  poetic  in  form. 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  201 

Job  taught  the  doctrines  of  Providence.  David  and 
others  in  the  Psalms  taught  the  doctrines  of  worship. 
Solomon  taught  the  doctrines  of  righteousness  in  Proverbs 
and  Ecclesiastes,  and  the  doctrines  of  spiritual  communion 
in  the  Canticles,  under  the  symbolism  of  Oriental  domes- 
tic life.  Is  not  this  a  true  order  of  instruction — Provi- 
dence, worship,  righteousness,  communion  ?  Was  it  not 
all  the  teaching  possible  on  the  basis  of  Old  Testament 
history?  But  in  the  New  Testament,  after  the  history  of 
God's  entrance  into  the  individual  and  of  the  union  of 
such  individuals  in  a  body,  other  doctrine  may  be  given. 
The  history  of  all  phases  of  the  supernatural  being  com- 
plete, all  doctrine  showing  man's  relation  and  duty  thereto 
may  be  unfolded  likewise.  See  how  large  is  the  space  now 
occupied  !  Five  or  six  men  are  employed,  men  as  unlike 
as  men  ever  were.  They  proceed  from  various  starting- 
points.  They  select  occasions  and  adopt  in  the  main  the 
epistolary  plan.  Twenty-one  pamphlets  appear,  addressed 
to  churches,  to  individuals,  and  to  peoples.  They  accept 
what  Job,  David,  and  Solomon  had  to  say,  but  expand 
their  teachings  to  apply  to  the  child  of  God,  to  the  in- 
dividual who  has  experienced  a  new  birth,  and  they  ex- 
plain many  things  long  involved  in  mystery.  Wonderful 
as  all  this  is,  it  is  more  wonderful  that  the  eight  or  nine 
teachers,  Job,  David,  Solomon,  Paul,  Peter,  James,  John, 
Jude,  all  had  one  system  of  philosophy.  They  seem  to 
have  been  perfectly  agreed  in  the  science  of  things  human 
and  divine,  and  the  causes  in  whic'i  they  are  contained. 
They  were  not  of  the  Garden,  or  the  Porch,  or  the  Ly- 
ceum, or  the  Academy,  but  of  the  Temple.  Their  great 
postulates  were  :  God,  the  first  cause,  is  a  loving  Father ; 
man,  the  sinner,  has  been  redeemed  ;  salvation  provided, 
must  be  accepted. 

Look  now  at  Bible  prophecy.     Is  it  not  the  necessary 
complement  to  the  history  and  doctrine  ?    Who  can  study 


202  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK. 

what  God  has  done  in  the  world  of  matter  and  in  the  world 
of  mind  without  asking  what  He  will  do  ?  Who  can  trust 
a  superintending  power,  worship  the  supreme  good  and 
seek  after  righteousness  and  communion  without  desires 
reaching  toward  things  beyond  ?  After  the  death  of  Solo- 
mon, Old  Testament  history  and  doctrine  being  complete, 
there  arose  a  very  remarkable  body  of  men.  They  were 
historians  in  the  sense  that  they  recorded  passing  events ; 
they  were  teachers  in  the  sense  that  they  called  their  con- 
temporaries to  their  duties.  But  they  were  more.  They 
had  their  eyes  on  the  future,  to  prepare  for  which  was 
their  chief  mission.  They  wrote  of  the  passing  hour  in 
the  light  of  coming  time.  Seventeen  pamphlets  fell  from 
their  pens,  awakening  hope  of  a  better  day.  In  like  man- 
ner, after  the  New  Testament  history  and  doctrine  the 
spirit  of  inquiry  would  naturally  arise.  What  shall  be 
the  outcome  of  this  supernatural  life  lived  in  the  land  of 
the  Jews?  What  reception  will  it  have  in  the  world? 
What  awaits  this  Church  established  by  Him  ?  What 
effect  will  this  doctrine  have  upon  men  ?  Prophecy 
alone  can  answer.  One  man,  the  beloved  of  Jesus,  in  his 
old  age,  exiled  in  Patmos,  drew  the  curtain  that  hides  the 
distant  centuries  and  made  known  the  ultimate  universal 
triumph.  That  Apocalyptic  vision,  then  humanly  im- 
possible, was  absolutely  essential.  Anything  more  would 
have  been  superfluous ;  anything  less  would  have  doomed 
to  oblivion  all  that  went  before. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  order  of  the  books  in  our 
English  Bible  is  not  the  order  in  which  they  were  writ- 
ten, nor  the  order  in  which  they  were  first  arranged. 
That  fact  signifies  nothing  against  the  other  fact  of  sym- 
metry, but  much  in  its  favor.  Suppose  forty  men,  work- 
ing in  different  quarries  for  sixteen  centuries,  hew  out 
stone.  The  blocks  are  laid  up  as  rapidly  as  they  appear 
to  serve  a  present  purpose.  But  when  all  is  done  it  13 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  203 

discovered  that  they  may  be  rearranged,  and  that  with- 
out application  of  square  or  chisel  they  raay  be  builded 
into  a  new  form,  more  beautiful,  as  if  each  block  had  been 
expressly  prepared  for  its  particular  place.  Such  is  the 
Bible.  History,  doctrine,  and  prophecy  are  wrought  to- 
gether as  no  skilled  human  artist  could  fit  them  into  their 
respective  positions. 

III.  The  last  wonderful  feature  of  the  Bible  to  be  men- 
tioned at  this  time  is  its  adaptation  to  human  need. 

It  is  well  suited  to  man's  intellect.  Its  truths  are  the 
most  sublime  that  ever  occupied  or  ever  can  occupy  the 
mind,  and  their  contemplation  is  fitted  to  exalt  all  the 
faculties.  Besides,  they  are  cast  in  such  form  as  to  make 
their  acquisition  both  pleasing  and  profitable.  Its  pic- 
torial representations  engage  the  imagination.  Its  or- 
ganic unity  and  symmetry,  already  described,  commend 
it  to  the  reasoning  powers.  Its  seed-thoughts,  deposited 
in  extended  narratives,  require  the  analytic  and  the  syn- 
thetic process  for  their  separation  and  classification.  Its 
grand  perspective  of  the  centuries  and  its  lofty  epochal 
characters  awaken  enthusiasm  for  study.  Its  steady 
march  of  events  from  the  fall  in  Eden  to  the  law  on  Sinai, 
and  thence  to  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary,  and  its  commissioned 
Church  going  forth  into  the  nations  to  testify  until  the 
promised  Millennial  morning,  give  meaning  to  earth's 
struggles  and  furnish  an  adequate  basis  for  philosophical 
investigation.  Its  institutions,  beginning  in  weakness, 
rising  into  power,  and  promoting  man's  highest  good,  fill 
the  mind  with  awe  and  gratify  the  organizing  and  con- 
structive disposition.  Its  types  and  symbols,  surrendered 
at  length  for  the  prefigured  substance,  cultivate  the  habit 
of  penetrating  below  the  temporary  and  phenomenal  to 
learn  the  permanent  and  the  essential.  Its  uniform 
method,  from  fact  to  doctrine,  from  doctrine  to  duty, 
tends  to  invigorate  the  mind  by  exciting  it  to  normal 


204  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK. 

activity.  Its  style — historic,  poetic,  didactic,  argumenta- 
tive, hortatory,  and  denunciatory — meets  the  varied  men- 
tal states.  To  sum  up  all  in  one  sentence,  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  constitute  a  field  in 
which  the  noblest  intellect  may  expatiate  forever  with 
delight,  and  continually  advance  from  strength  to  strength 
and  from  glory  to  glory. 

Again,  the  Bible  is  adapted  to  man's  social  need.  It 
fully  recognizes  all  the  earthly  relations  sustained  by  the 
individual,  and  defines  and  enjoins  the  duties  of  those  re- 
lations. Its  ideal  home  is  that  for  which  every  true  heart 
aspires.  Without  the  Bible  man  has  never  made  a  home. 
Here  the  words  husband,  wife,  father,  mother,  son,  daugh- 
ter, brother,  sister,  are  encircled  with  imperishable  glory. 
The  family,  as  presented  in  the  Bible,  will  never  cease  to 
be  attractive,  as  the  asylum  of  man,  the  sanctuary  of 
woman,  the  nursery  of  the  coming  generation.  The 
Bible  contains  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil  gov- 
ernment, so  delivered  that  under  any  form  of  monarchy 
or  democracy  they  are  fitted  to  produce  a  perfect  State. 
If  constitutions  and  statutes  could  be  made  in  harmony 
with  the  teachings  of  this  Book,  every  grievance  might 
be  redressed,  order  and  tranquillity  secured,  and  every 
man  might  sit  with  safety  and  peace  under  his  own  vine 
and  fig-tree,  none  daring  to  molest  or  make  afraid.  The 
Bible  seeks  to  regulate  all  the  daily  intercourse  of  man 
with  his  fellow,  whether  for  friendship  or  business,  in  mat- 
ters of  which  the  civil  law  takes  no  cognizance,  by  requir- 
ing truthfulness,  honesty,  justice,  mercy,  and  charity,  and 
all  those  other  virtues  which  ennoble  the  possessor  and 
are  essential  to  the  best  interests  of  every  association. 

The  Bible  is  adapted  to  man's  spiritual  need.  His 
deep  conviction  of  duty,  so  constant  and  authoritative ; 
his  sense  of  ill-desert,  filling  his  mind  at  times  with  fore- 
bodings of  evil ;  his  weary  and  often  vain  search  for  the 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  205 

way  of  peace  ;  his  long  struggle  against  inward  and  out- 
ward foes;  his  earnest  desires  after  a  supreme  power  in 
which  he  may  repose,  whose  aid  he  may  invoke ;  his  per- 
petual yearning  for  the  sympathy  of  a  great  Heart,  for  a 
communion  without  which  there  must  ever  be  an  aching 
void  ;  liis  painful  consciousness  of  imperfection,  disclosed 
to  him  more  and  more  as  he  advances ;  his  unspeakable 
aspirations  that  cannot  be  satisfied  with  earth's  treasures, 
howsoever  they  may  be  heaped  together ;  and  his  steady 
outreaching  for  another  life  where  hope  shall  be  ex- 
changed for  fruition, — these  exercises  and  states  exhibit 
man's  spiritual  necessities,  all  of  which  are  met  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  there  alone.  The  whole  race  may  come 
and  here  find  its  wants  supplied. 

The  Bible  is  adapted  to  every  age  and  condition  ot 
human  life.  The  young  may  read  with  ever  increasing 
delight  and  profit  its  matchless  biographies,  especially 
those  of  Joseph  and  Samuel  and  Daniel,  of  Jesus  and 
John  and  Timothy — object-lessons  these  of  "the  good, 
the  true,  and  the  beautiful ";  and  into  the  memory  of 
the  forming  mind  may  be  cast  those  golden  texts,  the 
maxims  of  imperishable  worth,  which  shall  be  germs  of 
exalted  character.  They  who  are  in  middle  life  will  find 
here  precious  words  for  every  hour  of  joy  or  sorrow,  for 
every  duty  or  trial ;  words  "  profitable  for  doctrine,  for 
reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness." 
The  aged,  "  when  the  keepers  of  the  house  shall  tremble, 
and  the  strong  men  shall  bow  themselves,  and  the  grind- 
ers cease  because  they  are  few,"  may  turn  to  these  pages 
and  forget  their  physical  infirmities,  while  they  meditate 
on  truths  that  lift  their  souls  to  heaven.  The  ignorant, 
the  learned,  the  poor,  the  rich,  the  bond,  the  free,  the 
low,  the  high,  will  find  in  this  volume  the  record  of  those 
whose  lot  was  like  theirs,  and  who  showed  how  their  sev- 
eral stations  may  be  best  filled, — how  adversity  may  be 


206  THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK. 

borne,  how  prosperity  may  be  blessed,  and  "  how  all 
things  may  work  together  for  good."  This  Book  has  a 
voice  of  warning  for  the  sinner,  a  voice  of  invitation  for 
the  penitent,  a  voice  of  pity  for  the  unfortunate,  a  voice 
of  caution  for  the  exalted,  a  voice  of  hope  for  the  de- 
spondent, a  voice  of  exultation  for  the  dying. 

The  adaptation  of  the  Bible  to  human  need  increases 
with  the  flight  of  time.  Other  books  grow  old  and  re- 
quire revision,  and  are  finally  laid  aside  for  others  that 
contain  fresher  thought  in  recent  dress.  The  text-books 
of  the  schools,  used  fifty  years  ago,  have  all  been  rejected. 
Histories  of  nations  and  of  epochs,  biographies  of  men, 
statements  of  doctrine  must  be  rewritten  at  frequent  in- 
tervals to  meet  the  change  in  public  opinion.  How 
pompous  and  imperious  is  Modern  Thought !  Who  dares 
to  resist  its  dictum  must  endure  odium.  Even  the  few 
classics,  the  products  of  master  minds  in  a  former  age, 
are  no  longer  printed  as  they  were  written.  Expurgated 
copies  alone  are  tolerated  in  our  families.  But  the  Bible, 
the  oldest,  is  at  the  same  time  the  newest  of  books.  E"o 
one  seeks  to  make  it  other  than  it  was  at  the  beginning, 
in  the  hope  of  improving  it  or  readjusting  it  to  the  spirit 
of  the  times.  The  universal  desire  is  to  preserve  the 
original  and  make  all  transcripts  conform  to  that.  This 
Book,  begun  thirty-three  centuries  ago  and  completed 
after  fifteen  centuries,  occupies  to-day  in  the  esteem  of 
mankind  a  larger  place  than  at  any  previous  time.  And 
it  holds  that  position,  not  because  of  the  decrees  of  any 
church  council,  not  because  of  any  legislative  enactments, 
not  because  of  any  penalties  proclaimed  against  those  who 
reject  it,  nor  yet  because  its  writers  are  believed  to  have 
been  in  pired,  but  because  the  men  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury have  discovered  in  it  what  they  need.  And,  whatever 
may  be  said  of  its  origin,  it  will  never  be  surrendered,  so 
long  as  its  exalted  ministry  continues. 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK.  207 

And  now  for  the  u  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter." 
Here  is  a  very  ancient  volume,  produced  by  many  hands 
working  without  concert.  In  structure  it  is  a  masterpiece ; 
its  parts,  like  some  beautiful  mosaic,  are  laid  together  as 
if  according  to  a  preconceived  pattern.  Its  truths,  varied 
and  far-reaching,  meet  the  needs  of  every  soul  in  every 
land,  under  every  circumstance  of  life.  They  are  "  seed 
to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the  eater."  He  who  feeds  on 
this  bread,  exclaims  with  Israel's  songster,  "  I  have  eaten 
my  honey-comb  with  my  honey."  The  centuries  come 
and  go ;  times  and  seasons  change ;  institutions  rise  and 
fall;  civilizations  grow  old  and  perish — but  this  Book 
liveth  and  abideth  forever.  It  leads  humanity  onward 
and  upward,  and  at  each  stage  of  progress  points  to  better 
things  to  come.  It  is,  indeed,  a  lamp  unto  the  feet  and 
a  light  unto  the  path  of  the  toiling  millions  who  seek  to 
know  that  which  is  highest  and  best.  What  shall  we  say 
concerning  such  a  marvellous  volume?  Is  it  not  the 
BOOK  OF  GOD? 


THE    BEAKING    OF    PEOPHECY    OK 
IJSTSPIKATION. 

ET.    KEY.    WM.    K.    NICHOLSON,    D.D. 

MY  theme  is  the  Inspiration  of  the  prophets.  But  I 
must  limit  my  theme.  For  prophecy  is  a  word  of  large 
meaning.  The  prophet  had  to  declare  God's  will  on 
whatever  subject.  As  occasion  required,  and  as  the  Lord 
directed,  he  laid  down  principles  of  religious  belief  and 
ethical  obligation,  he  counselled,  he  rebuked,  he  comfort- 
ed, he  exhorted,  and  he  foretold  future  events.  It  is  this 
last-mentioned  one  of  his  God-given  f  auctions,  that  the 
formula  of  my  subject  intends.  The  prophet,  as  predicting 
future  events,  is  his  sole  identity  as  now  he  comes  before 
us. 

In  the  utterance  of  their  predictions,  were  the  prophets 
supernaturally  inspired  2  Was  their  inspiration  not  only 
Divine,  but  miraculously  Divine  ?  Did  they  speak  only 
from  an  immediate  afflatus  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost? 
"While  it  was  they  who  spoke,  were  they  yet  but  mouth- 
pieces of  God,  who  was  Himself  speaking  in  and  through 
them,  infallibly,  and  for  mankind's  authoritative  guidance  ? 
Were  their  predictions  such  as  that  they  were  superhu- 
man, and  were  the  words  of  their  predictions,  although 
being,  at  least  in  most  instances,  unrepressedly  their  own 
words,  just  such  as  God  meant  them  to  be  ?  These  are 
our  questions. 

But  even  our  restricted  theme,  merely  predictive  proph- 
ecy, is  so  large  a  subject,  the  predictions  being  so  numer- 
ous, the  details  so  diversified,  it  would  require  no  small 
(208) 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRA  TION.     209 

volume  to  give  a  commensurate  exhibit  of  its  bearings  on 
Inspiration.  In  the  time  allotted,  I  shall  only  be  able, 
after  stating  the  principles  of  the  argument,  to  apply  those 
principles  to  a  few  of  the  predictions. 

The  argument  is  twofold.  There  are  predictions  ful- 
filled, and  there  are  predictions  unfulfilled.  Each  class 
has  its  place  in  the  discussion. 

In  the  first  place,  as  to  prophecy  fulfilled. 

Here,  the  general  structure  of  the  argument  is  simple, 
exceedingly.  It  is  the  following  syllogism  : 

Not  man,  but  solely  God,  can  foretell  events  and  cir- 
cumstances of  a  distant  future. 

But  precisely  this  is  what  the  Hebrew  prophets  have 
done. 

Therefore,  the  Hebrew  prophets  were  not  self-moved 
in  their  predictions,  but  God  did  move  them. 

The  major  premise  of  this  syllogism  is  self-luminous 
and  irresistible.  That  no  man  can  discern  what  events 
and  circumstances  distant  years  shall  bring  forth — that 
God  alone  can  do  this — is  what  all  men  instantly  see  to  be 
absolutely  true.  The  efforts  of  infidels  to  make  it  appear 
that  the  alleged  predictions  of  the  Bible  were  written  after 
the  events,  are  a  concession  that,  if  the  Bible  prophets  did 
really  foretell  remote  and  improbable  events,  then  were 
they  supernaturally  inspired  of  God.  It  is  the  minor  pre- 
mise that  we  need  to  discuss.  Did  the  prophets  really 
predict  hidden  things  of  the  future  ? 

This  brings  us  to  the  question,  How  shall  it  be  ascer- 
tained whether  or  no  the  prophets  did  lay  open  ungu ess- 
able  secrets  of  long  years  to  come  ?  In  other  words,  What 
are  the  criteria  of  a  genuine  prediction  ? 

First,  the  alleged  prediction  must  have  been  made 
Icnovm  prior  to  the  event.  This  is  a  principle  self-evident. 
Only,  it  must  be  shown  that  the  precedence  of  the  predic- 
tion is  an  historical  fact.  In  literature,  fancy  is  sometimes 


210    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

put  for  history ;  as  when  Spenser,  in  his  Faery  Queene,  in 
order  to  give  vivacity  to  his  narrative,  puts  in  the  form  of 
prediction  descriptions  of  events  in  English  history,  and 
so  takes  occasion  to  make  complimentary  allusions  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Let  it  be  proved  that  the  prophecy  has  gone 
before  the  event. 

Secondly,  the  event  claimed  to  have  been  foretold  must 
be  such  as  is  wholly  remote  from  human  view.  If  it  is 
such  an  occurrence  as  is  deducible  from  probability  or  ex- 
perience, the  utterance  beforehand  might  have  been  either 
a  sagacious  anticipation  or  a  fortunate  guess ;  but  it  could 
be  no  expression  of  a  supernatural  influence.  Seneca  fore- 
told, that  at  some  future  time  the  mariner,  urging  his 
ship  into  unknown  seas,  would  be  the  discoverer  of  new 
territories.  This  anticipation  of  Seneca's  has  been  paraded 
as  a  prophecy  of  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus. 
But  the  anticipation  was  uncircumstantial,  and  wholly  in- 
definite. Neither  America  nor  Columbus  is  identified. 
It  was  only  a  vivid  picture  of  mere  probability,  suggested 
by  ships  and  oceans  and  adventurous  sailors.  The  Roman 
poet  made  another  guess  that  was  not  so  fortunate,  that 
the  people  of  Hindostan  should  occupy  Armenia,  and  the 
region  of  the  Rhine  be  colonized  by  Persians.  Dr.  Eras- 
mus Darwin,  a  poet  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  also  a 
man  of  science,  wrote : 

"Soon  shall  thy  arm,  unconquer'd  steam,  afar 
Drag  the  slow  barge,  or  drive  the  rapid  car." 

But  the  subsequent  realization  of  those  triumphs  of  steam 
is  not  such  an  event  as  was  at  all  remote  from  a  scientific 
prevision.  And  Lord  Bacon,  in  his  description  of  the 
"  House  of  Solomon,"  in  the  "  New  Atlantis,"  anticipated, 
with  remarkable  discernment,  many  of  the  prodigies  of 
intellectual  and  social  advancement  that,  since  his  time, 
have  distinguished  our  civilization.  He  did  but  infer, 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    2H 

however,  from  his  improved  method  of  studying  nature, 
what  the  world  would  be,  when,  as  he  said,  his  philosophy 
should  have  enlarged  the  bounds  of  human  empire. 

Anticipations  that  spring  out  of  a  collection  of  the  prob- 
abilities of  present  conditions  are  radically  different  from 
a  foresight  of  things  to  which  no  sign  in  the  present  is 
pointing,  and  betwixt  the  foretelling  and  the  occurring  of 
which  there  may  be  the  distance  of  many  years,  sometimes 
of  even  ages.  The  prescience  of  an  experienced  politician 
or  statesman  is  of  no  deeper  principle  than  is  that  of  the 
skilful  chess-player.  Moreover,  the  anticipative  calcula- 
tions of  probability  do  about  as  often  miss  as  hit  the 
mark.  The  proverbial  weather-prophet  may  be  taken 
perhaps  as  an  adequate  type  of  all  who  would  cast  a  horo- 
scope of  even  the  near  future.  And,  as  regards  a  remote 
period,  deductions  from  present  causes  cannot  be  carried 
so  far  forward,  because  new  causes  spring  up  that  are  as 
yet  unknown.  To  foretell  events  that  are  far  removed 
from  human  view — far  removed  as  well  in  probability  as 
in  time, — this  is  what  no  human  observation  and  skill  can 
do ;  but  this  is  just  what  is  essential  to  a  genuine  super- 
natural prediction. 

Thirdly,  in  the  language  of  the  prediction,  there  must 
1e  no  ambiguity.  When  Croesus  consulted  the  oracle  at 
Delphi  about  his  intended  war  with  the  Persians,  he  was 
told  that  he  should  destroy  a  great  empire.  This  he  nat- 
urally interpreted  of  his  overcoming,  the  Persians,  al- 
though the  language  admitted  of  the  meaning  that  the 
Persians  should  overcome  him.  In  either  case,  his  war 
should  destroy  a  great  empire.  He  made  the  war,  and 
was  ruined.  A  genuine  prediction  must  not  be  ambigu- 
ous. More  or  less  of  obscurity,  indeed,  may  attach  to  the 
exact  meaning  of  a  prophecy  before  its  fulfilment,  but  it 
must  not  be  susceptible  of  two  interpretations.  Its  mean- 
ing, whatever  that  may  be,  must  be  definite. 


212    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

Fourthly,  the  genuine  prophet  must  utter  his  predic- 
tion as  being  expressly  from  God.  For  if  God  reveal  to 
one  a  certain  item  of  foreknowledge  for  the  very  purpose 
of  inspiring  him  to  announce  it,  God  would  certainly 
mean  to  have  it  announced  as  coming  from  Himself; 
since,  if  not  so  announced,  it  could  only  be  regarded  as 
the  man's  own  vague  conjecture,  and  could  have,  there- 
fore, no  weight  with  his  contemporaries.  Nor  could  a 
future  generation  regard  the  fulfilment  of  a  prediction 
that  had  not  been  announced  in  the  name  of  God,  if  per- 
chance it  should  be  fulfilled,  otherwise  than  as  having  hap- 
pened as  a  chance  of  one  in  many  billions.  Hence,  we 
cannot  conceive  of  a  really  inspired  prophet  as  not  pro- 
fessing to  speak  by  the  authority  of  the  Omniscient. 

Fifthly,  there  must  be  at  the  proper  time  a  clear  and 
palpable  fulfilment  of  the  prediction.  This  principle 
completes  the  criteria  of  genuine  prophecy. 

These  five  canons  of  prophetic  identity,  when  concur- 
rent in  application  to  a  given  utterance,  furnish  an  abso- 
lute demonstration  of  the  supernaturalism  of  that  utter- 
ance. If  the  prediction  preceded  the  event,  if  the  event 
is  such  as  was  remote  from  human  view,  if  the  prediction 
was  unambiguous,  if  it  was  uttered  in  the  name  of  God, 
then  the  realization  of  it  in  the  event  is  the  crowning  of 
it  as  a  genuine  prophecy,  and  the  glory  of  that  crown  is 
God's  miraculous  inspiration  of  the  prophet. 

We  now  proceed  to  apply  these  principles  in  a  few  in- 
stances of  Bible  prophecy. 

That  the  prophets  did  speak  in  the  name  of  God,  I 
need  not  waste  time  in  showing.  Just  open  the  Bible, 
and  he  that  runs  may  read. 

As  regards  the  other  four  canons,  we  must  test  their 
applicability  by  an  induction  of  particulars. 

First,  let  us  take  for  the  examination  certain  predictions 
concerning  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Egypt,  and  the  Four  Em- 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRA  TION.    213 

pires.  The  prophets  in  question  are  Nahum,  Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, Zephaniah,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel. 

What  are  some  of  the  things  claiming  to  have  been 
foretold  of  those  cities  and  kingdoms  ? 

That  the  great  cities  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  should  be 
captured.  That  each  of  the  two  cities  should  be  taken 
when  in  a  condition  of  revelry  and  intoxication.  That 
the  rivers  on  which  the  cities  respectively  stood  (Nineveh 
on  the  Tigris,  Babylon  on  the  Euphrates)  should  be  instru- 
mental in  their  being  captured.  That  the  two  rivers 
should  perform  their  parts  in  opposite  ways — the  Tigris 
by  an  inundation,  the  Euphrates  by  drying  up.  That  the 
cities  should  ultimately  pass  under  an,  exterminating  deso- 
lation, and  become  receptacles  of  wild  beasts  (see  the 
prophets  Nahum,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Zephaniah). 

That  Egypt  should  become  a  base  kingdom — the  basest 
of  kingdoms.  That  God  would  so  diminish  it  that  it 
should  no  more  rule  over  nations  and  never  more  have  a 
prince  of  its  own.  That  while  Nineveh  and  Babylon 
should  be  depopulated,  Egypt,  still  retaining  its  popula- 
tion, should  be  degraded  and  made  helpless  (Ezekiel  xxix. 
13-15). 

That  the  Babylonian  Empire,  during  whose  time  of 
splendor  the  prophet  Daniel  claims  to  have  made  his  pre- 
dictions, should  come  to  an  end.  That  it  should  be  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Medo-Persian,  the  latter  by  the  Grecian, 
and  this  by  the  Roman.  That,  with  the  fourth — the  Ro- 
man— the  succession  of  universal  empires  should  cease. 
That  each  of  the  Four  Empires  should  have  its  leading 
characteristics,  each  one  being  differentiated  in  character 
from  all  the  others.  That  not  only  the  Babylonian,  whose 
salient  features  were  before  the  eyes  of  Daniel,  was  de- 
lineated as  to  the  quality  of  its  power  and  the  constitu- 
tion of  its  government,  but  equally  distinctively  the  other 
three,  all  the  three  as  yet  unborn,  all  unlike  one  another, 


214    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

though  all  should  be  universal  empires ;  the  Roman,  the 
last  link  of  the  Imperial  succession,  being  described  by  the 
prophet  as  the  most  terrible  of  all,  and  the  transcendent 
bruiser  of  the  nations  (Daniel  ii.  and  vii.). 

You  will  have  noticed  in  all  these  alleged  predictions 
how  distinct  and  definite  they  are.  How  utterly  free  from 
ambiguity.  How  impossible  to  give  to  any  one  of  the 
statements  two  interpretations.  Indeed,  these  alleged  pre- 
dictions read  like  very  history. 

Now,  supposing  for  the  moment  that  these  alleged  pre- 
dictions were  published  as  long  before  the  events  as  they 
claim  to  have  been,  and  that  the  events  have  been  realized 
as  predicted,  were  the  events  themselves  such  as,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  are  remote  from  human  view  \  Was 
it  possible  for  mind  of  man  to  have  foreseen  them  ?  How 
circumstantial  are  the  statements.  How  minutely  der 
tailed.  How  vividly  depicted.  What  contingencies  of 
human  action  are  involved.  How  different  the  destinies 
of  the  different  peoples.  How  many  unknown  causes, 
causes  variant  one  from  another,  yet  strangely  falling  into 
their  places,  would  have  to  arise  in  the  future,  when  the 
prophets  themselves  who  uttered  the  predictions  had  long 
passed  away,  to  bring  about  exactly  these  events  and  cir- 
cumstances. IB  human  prevision  equal  to  an  achievement 
like  this?  The  question  is  its  own  answer.  What  man, 
however  gifted  and  experienced,  could  foresee,  the  fore- 
sight turning  out  to  be  true,  that  within  200  years  from 
now  the  river  Thames  should  inundate  the  city  of  London, 
and  the  Delaware  River  should  dry  up  at  Philadelphia,  and 
that,  in  consequence,  each  of  the  two  cities  should  be 
taken  by  an  enemy  ?  Or,  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment should  come  to  an  end,  and  be  succeeded  by  a  gov- 
ernment of  another  people,  and  this  by  a  third  people,  and 
the  third  by  a  fourth  people,  either  naming  or  character- 
istically describing  each  people,  and  then  that  the  fourth 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.     215 

in  the  succession  should  ultimately  break  up  into  a  number 
of  separate  nationalities — can  it  be  conceived  of  any  man 
that  he  should  make  this  prophecy,  the  prophecy  being  at 
length  fulfilled?  The  probabilities  never  existed,  that 
could  enable  a  man  to  forespeak  a  long  and  contingent 
future  so  positively,  so  circumstantially,  so  effectually.  If 
the  Hebrew  prophets  did  speak  before  the  events,  and  if 
the  events  were  exact  counterparts  of  their  utterances, 
then  were  they  supernaturally  inspired  of  God. 

It  is  commonly  objected  by  disbelievers,  since  it  is  the 
fate  of  empires  to  rise  and  fall,  and  their  mutability  and 
decay  is  a  matter  of  experience,  that,  to  shrewd  observers 
of  affairs,  it  was  but  a  natural  suggestion  to  anticipate  their 
downfall.  But  you  will  have  noticed  that  the  predictions 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  a  mere  specimen  of  which  I  have 
given  you,  were  not  of  so  vague  and  indefinite  a  kind. 
Rather,  they  foretold  how  the  cities  and  kingdoms  should 
fall.  Their  prevision  was  minutely  circumstantial,  rich  in 
details.  Their  forespeech  was  discriminating,  contradis- 
tinctive,  and  even,  as  in  Daniel's  characterizations  of  the 
several  empires,  politically  observant  and  profoundly  an- 
alytical. If  their  predictions  did  indeed  precede  the 
events,  and  if  the  events  were  the  realization  of  the  pre- 
dictions, only  God's  prescience  could  have  availed  to  their 
utterance.  No  human  genius,  no  happy  conjectures,  no 
sagacious  anticipations,  could  possibly  write  out  before- 
hand the  most  surprising  details  of  history.  Did  they 
make  their  predictions,  then,  prior  to  the  events  ?  And 
have  the  events  exactly  answered  to  the  predictions? 
The  latter  of  these  questions  we  attend  to  first.  It  is  sim- 
ply notorious  that  these  statements  of  the  prophets  have 
their  precise  counterparts  in  actual  occurrences.  For 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  we  have  the  attestations  of  profane 
history,  even  the  reproduction  in  its  narratives  of  the  mi- 
nute and  distinctive  circumstances  declared  by  the  proph- 


216    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

ets.     As  regards  Egypt,  we  know  it  has  been  in  a  state  of 
degradation  for  many  centuries,  and  continues,  to  this  day, 
to  have  no  prince  of  its  own.     With  respect  to  the  Four 
Empires,  all  history  assures  us  that  the  succession  has  been 
just  as  Daniel  described  it,  that  the  salient  features  of  each 
of  the  empires  have  corresponded  to  the  letter  of  his  de- 
scription, that  the  fourth  in  the  succession  has  been  the 
last  of  the  universal  empires,  and  that  it  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  a  number  of  separate  governments.     I  need  not 
stop  to  quote  from  Diodorus  Siculus  and  others,  in  attest- 
ation of  what  is  so  notorious,  and  is  universally  conceded. 
This  brings  us  to  the  other  question — Did  the  prophets 
make  these  predictions  prior  to  the  events  ?     The  disbe- 
liever says,  No.     His  only  refuge  is  to  try  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  the  predictions  were  published  after  the  events. 
But  what  facts  has  he  to  found  on  ?     Not  one.     It  is 
purely  a  fabrication.     He  has  done  nothing  to  establish 
his  position.     He  reasons  in  a  circle.     These  are  not  real 
predictions,  because  they  were  written  after  the  events ; 
they  were  written  after  the  events,  because  they  speak  of 
the  events.     Thus,  the  denial  of  the  predictions  is  made 
to  rest  on  their  being  posterior  to  the  events ;    and  their 
being  posterior  to  the  events  is  made  to  rest  on  the  denial  of 
the  predictions.     He  further  attempts  to  bolster  his  posi- 
tion by  saying,  that,  admitting  the  prophets  to  have  writ- 
ten at  the  dates  claimed  by  them,  yet  these  predictions 
were  not  in  the  original  writings,  but  were  interpolated 
by  some  forger  or  forgers  after  the  events,  as  is  indicated 
by  the  language  and  sentiments,  associated  with  the  pre- 
dictions,  not  being  in  the   characteristic   style    of    the 
prophet  to  whom  they  are  ascribed.     But  how  unsatisfac- 
tory is  this  kind  of  a  contention  is  shown  in  the  fruitless 
discussion,  as  to  whether  Lord  Bacon  is  not  the  real  author 
of  the  tragedies  and  comedies  of  Shakespeare.     The  result 
is  simply  intangible.     Besides,  in  the  case  of*  the  Hebrew 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    217 

prophets,  this  is  the  absurdest  possible  criticism.  "Who- 
ever adopts  this  theory  must  believe,  not  only  that  the 
forgers  were  men  of  the  loftiest  genius,  since  some  of  the 
passages  pronounced  spurious — as  for  instance,  certain  chap- 
ters of  the  latter  part  of  Isaiah — are  the  very  masterpieces 
of  Hebrew  literature ;  but  also  that  the  Jews  were  phe- 
nomenally careless  about  their  sacred  books,  even  allowing 
them  to  be  recklessly  tampered  with  by  literary  adventur- 
ers. "We  know  how  jealously  all  nations  that  have  sacred 
books  watch  over  their  integrity,  and  we  specially  know 
with  what  reverence  the  Jews  regarded  their  Scriptures. 
The  almost  superstitious  dread  with  which  they  viewed 
the  omission  or  alteration  of  a  single  jot  or  tittle  in  the 
writings — their  actual  counting  up  of  the  words  and  let- 
ters— the  wearing  of  their  phylacteries,  slips  of  parchment 
on  which  were  written  words  of  their  law — all  this  renders 
absolutely  incredible  the  forgery  theory.  JSTo  such  spuri- 
ous additions  could  conceivably  have  been  palmed  off  upon 
such  a  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  positive  testimony  we  have  for  the 
priority  of  the  predictions  to  the  events.  The  witness  of 
Josephus,  not  only  to  the  deep-felt  sacredness  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  and  their  unexceptionally  recognized 
integrity  in  his  day,  but  as  well  to  the  unbroken  tradition 
on  these  points  that  had  come  down  from  the  fathers  ;  the 
Septuagint  translation  of  the  Hebrew  books  into  Greek, 
which  took  place  along  the  interval  from  280  years  B.C. 
to  150  years  B.C.,  which  translation  is  itself  evidence  of  a 
prior  ancientness ;  the  reverential  allusions  of  the  apocry- 
phal books  to  those  of  the  sacred  canon ;  the  witness  of 
successive  books  of  the  Bible  to  preceding  ones  from 
century  to  century ;  the  centering  of  the  national  unity, 
as  far  back  as  authoritative  notices  will  take  us,  in  the  peo- 
ple's peculiar  estimate  of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  their 
attachment  to  the  sublime  Messianic  hopes  taught  by  the 


218    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

prophets  ;  and  above  all,  the  public  judgment  and  decision 
of  the  Jewish  Church  and  people,  as  declared  in  their  earli- 
est history  ; — all  these  facts,  and  others,  unite  to  show  that, 
for  claimetl  antiquity  of  the  Hebrew  books,  and  for  their 
unmarred  original  contents,  we  have  the  sanction  of  centu- 
ries of  unquestioned  authority.  And  recurring,  in  connec- 
tion with  these  facts,  to  what  we  have  already  said  of  the 
reverence  of  the  Jews  for  their  Scriptures,  we  are  obliged 
to  feel  that  it  is  reasonably  impossible  to  doubt  either  the 
dates  severally  claimed  by  the  books,  or  their  inviolate 
identity. 

Moreover,  let  us  take  Daniel  as  a  test  case.  Let  us  ac- 
cept for  a  moment  the  latest  date  that  disbelief  has  dared 
to  assign  to  his  prophecies.  Say  that  he  exercised  his  pro- 
phetic office  as  late  as  Antiochus  Epiphanes — that  is,  in 
the  period  of  the  third  of  the  Four  Empires,  namely,  the 
Grecian.  Now,  at  that  time,  the  Roman  power  had  not 
made  itself  known  beyond  the  confines  of  Italy.  W  hat  hu- 
man sagacity  could  even  then  have  conjectured  the  things 
that  Daniel  predicted  concerning  it?  Who  could  have 
foreseen  that  the  then  comparatively  insignificant  com- 
munity on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  was  to  become  that 
great  world-power,  strong  as  iron,  which  should  break  in 
pieces  and  tread  down  the  nations  ?  Who  could  have 
foreseen  that,  after  attaining  to  the  splendid  summit  of  its 
greatness,  it  should  be  the  last  of  the  universal  empires, 
and  that  in  its  decadence,  it  should  branch  out  into  a 
multitude  of  separate  kingdoms  2  How  was  it  that  Daniel 
could  so  accurately  fix  the  limit  to  that  line  of  empires, 
and  that  he  did  not  rather,  in  view  of  the  already  four- 
fold imperial  succession,  go  on  to  anticipate  further 
changes  of  the  like  kind  ?  Was  not  all  that  supernatural  ? 
What,  then,  has  disbelief  gained  by  its  violent  endeavors 
to  wrench  the  predictions  out  of  their  proper  dates  ?  It 
cannot  put  Daniel's  writings  posterior  to  the  rise  of  Rome. 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRA  TION.    219 

Contrive  as  it  may,  it  cannot  get  rid  of  the  priority  of  cer- 
tain predictions  to  the  event.  Even  granting  to  disbelief, 
for  argument's  sake,  its  whimsical  demand  as  to  the  date 
of  Daniel's  prophecies,  we  are  able  to  say  to  it,  Thou  hast 
slain  thyself ! 

In  these  predictions  of  the  prophets,  then,  concerning 
Nineveh,  Babylon,  Egypt,  and  the  Four  Empires,  we  do- 
find  the  supernatural  inspiration  of  God.  Their  utter- 
ances were  prior  to  the  events.  The  events  were  remote 
from  human  view.  Their  utterances  were  not  ambigu- 
ous. They  did  speak  in  the  name  of  God.  Their  predic- 
tions were  literally  and  minutely  fulfilled.  Therefore 
the  subject-matter  of  their  utterances  was  immediately 
from  God,  just  as  certainly  as  that  Nineveh  and  Babylon 
have  fallen,  as  that  Egypt  has  been  degraded,  as  that  Rome 
became  a  universal  conqueror. 

But  not  only  the  fact  of  their  inspiration,  the  fullness 
of  it  also  is  clearly  set  forth.  Their  very  words  were 
divinely  controlled.  Not  that  they  were  merely  as  a  pen 
in  a  writer's  hand,  or  as  a  machine  under  the  control  of  a 
machinist,  but  rather  as  a  child  learning  to  walk ;  the  child 
doing  its  own  walking,  meanwhile  the  mother's  hand  is 
upholding  and  guiding.  The  prophet's  mind  was  actively 
at  work,  his  own  style  of  thinking  and  speaking  was  self- 
expressive  ;  but  the  hand  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  guiding 
his  mental  individuality,  and  holding  him  up  against 
stumbling.  For,  if  Nahum  had  said  of  Nineveh,  that  it 
should  be  taken  by  means  of  a  drying  up  of  the  Tigris ;  or 
Isaiah  had  said  of  Babylon,  that  it  should  be  taken  by 
means  of  an  inundation  of  the  Euphrates,  thus  reversing 
the  revelations  given — and  certainly,  if  left  to  themselves 
in  the  work  of  expression,  this  might  have  been  from  what 
we  know  of  infirmities  of  impression  and  lapses  of  mem- 
ory ;  or  if  Ezekiel  had  said  of  Egypt,  that  it  should  be  de- 
populated, and  Isaiah  had  said  of  Babylon,  that  it  should 


220    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

be  simply  degraded,  thus  again  reversing  the  revelations ; 
or  if  Daniel,  in  depicting  the  several  characters  of  the  Four 
Empires,  had  got  them  mixed,  and  had  given  to  Greece 
the  character  of  Home  ; — why,  then,  in  all  these  cases,  the 
inaccuracies  of  the  prophets  would  have  emerged  at  the 
time  of  the  events,  and  the  credit  of  prophecy  had  been 
destroyed.  The  revelations  God  gave  them  were  circum- 
stantial, distinctive,  discriminative;  wherefore  the  expres- 
sion of  said  revelations  was  meant  to  be  equally  circum- 
stantial, distinctive,  discriminative.  The  mind  of  man, 
however,  is  liable  to  get  confused,  and  words  are  but  the 
outcome  of  the  mind.  Therefore  that,  in  the  predictions 
about  those  cities  and  kingdoms,  there  were,  as  we  see  from 
the  events,  no  inaccurate  words,  is  demonstration  that, 
while  not  interfering  with  the  natural  play  of  the  proph- 
et's mind,  the  Holy  Ghost  did  have  a  care  of  the  proph- 
et as  actually  writing ;  whether  that  care  was  exerted  in 
making  the  impression,  at  the  instant  of  giving  the  reve- 
lation, so  minute  and  vivid  as  to  preclude  the  prophet's 
thoughts  from  wandering,  or  whether  it  was  not  exerted 
till  the  prophet  had  pen  in  hand.  In  either  way  the  de- 
sired accuracy  of  expression  might  have  been  secured. 
And  thus,  while  the  words  were  the  prophet's  own,  at  the 
same  time  they  were  the  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  very 
words  that  were  divinely  meant,  according  to  the  prophet's 
peculiar  mental  structure,  to  be  used.  Nahum,  and  Isaiah, 
and  Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel,  and  Zephaniah,  and  Daniel, 
each  one,  in  the  predictions  we  have  been  examining,  did 
deliver  his  God-given  message  in  language  that  came  leap- 
ing out  of  his  own  intellect  and  sensibilities  and  tempera- 
ment, and  yet,  by  the  intelligent  control  of  the  Spirit,  no 
word  was  said  that  should  not  have  been  said,  no  mistake 
was  made  in  the  statement  of  the  Spirit's  revelations. 

Look  now  at  a  second  class  of  predictions — some  of 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    221 

those  concerning  the  Jews.  Are  our  canons  of  genuine 
prediction  accomplished  therein? 

What  is  it  that  the  prophets  say  ? 

Moses  said  that  they  should  be  "  scattered  among  all 
peoples,  from  the  one  end  of  the  earth,  even  unto  the 
other  end  of  the  earth  "  (Deut.  xxviii.  64).  That,  never- 
theless, they  should  keep  their  Jewish  identity  and  their 
separateness  as  a  community  in  whatever  age  or  clime 
(Lev.  xxvi.  44).  Amos  said  they  should  be  u  sifted  among 
all  nations,  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve" — so  thor- 
oughly scattered  and  mixed  up  with  all  peoples  they 
should  be ;  that,  nevertheless,  "  not  the  least  grain  should 
fall  upon  the  earth  " — should  be  lost  (ix.  9).  So  that, 
while  the  Jewish  body  politic  should  be  swept  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  the  Jewish  people  be  hurled  hither 
and  thither  all  through  the  nations  of  the  earth,  yet  they 
should  always  remain  a  distinct  Jewish  people. 

Now,  are  these  statements  at  all  ambiguous  ?  No  ex- 
pressions could  be  plainer  or  more  definite. 

Again,  do  these  statements  accurately  represent  the 
events  of  Jewish  history?  Look  around  you  and  you 
will  see.  Read  the  news  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  con- 
sult the  annals  of  the  last  1,800  years,  and  you  will  learn. 
The  Jew  is  everywhere,  and  has  been  so  for  centuries  and 
centuries ;  still  a  Jew  he  remains.  He  is  not  a  body  pol- 
itic, has  no  civic  community  of  his  own ;  but  not  the  ]ess 
he  is  a  national  unit.  Unlike  the  gipsies,  who  have  never 
had  a  recognized  importance,  and  are  not  a  factor  either 
in  society  or  in  government,  and  neither  the  extent  nor 
the  duration  of  their  dispersion  nor  their  petty  persecu- 
tions are  to  be  brought  into  comparison,  the  Jew  is  not 
insignificant.  He  lives,  not  because  the  world  has  let  him 
alone,  but  by  virtue  of  a  mysterious  energy  of  perpetual 
rebound ;  for  his  sufferings,  only  as  half  told,  have  been 
more  than  enough  to  exterminate  any  other  people.  Up- 


222    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

rooted  from  the  fatherland,  driven  and  lashed  throughout 
the  world,  he  has  starved,  he  has  writhed,  he  has  burned,  he 
has  died  by  means  of  the  most  relentless  persecutions  that 
maddened  power  could  invent.  Exceptionally  unfortunate 
as  he  has  been,  however,  he  has  not  stood  on  a  dead  level 
of  misfortune,  since,  in  spite  of  experiencing  every  con- 
ceivable calamity,  he  has  elevated  himself  to  the  high 
places  of  the  earth.  If  he  has  drank  the  bitterness  of 
poverty,  he  has  also  feasted  in  affluence  boundless.  If  he 
has  been  lined  off  and  cooped  up  in  quarantined  wards  of 
contempt,  as  though  the  plague  had  stricken  him,  he  has 
lived  also  in  the  full  communication  of  public  inter- 
course. If  he  has  painfully  elbowed  his  way  in  the 
crowded  marts  of  commerce,  he  has  warbled  the  sweet- 
est melodies  and  created  the  sublimest  music  that  ever 
entranced  the  listening  world.  If  he  has  been  set  at 
naught  as  a  proverb  and  a  by-word,  he  has  been  amongst 
the  foremost  in  literature,  in  learning,  in  theology — the 
acknowledged  peer  of  the  greatest.  If  he  has  fled  from 
country  to  country,  as  though  he  had  been  the  football 
of  nations,  he  has  sat  in  the  chair  of  the  Minister  of  State, 
and  has  ruled  the  nations  in  which  he  is  an  exile.  In 
short,  he  has  actually  exemplified  just  those  adversities 
and  those  prosperities,  just  those  relations  and  those  habi- 
tudes of  life,  that  do  most  effectually  obliterate  original  dis- 
tinctions of  lineage  and  country.  Still  he  is  a  Jew.  For 
now  near  two  thousand  years,  present  in  all  countries,  hav- 
ing a  home  in  none;  intermixed  everywhere,  separate 
everywhere ;  never  amalgamated,  never  lost ;  like  the  dis- 
tinctive current  of  his  own  Jordan  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  Dead  Sea.  Could  correspondence  be  more  perfect 
than  between  these  events  and  the  predictions  of  the 
prophets  \ 

But,  again,  were  those  predictions  prior  to  the  events  ? 
When,  then,  did  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  take  place  I 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRA  TION.     223 

They  did  have  a  country ;  they  were  a  body  politic. 
When  did  they  begin  to  be  rooted  up  out  of  their  land 
and  be  blown  everywhere  as  upon  the  winds  ?  Tangibly, 
we  put  the  finger  on  the  date  of  the  conquest  of  Jeru- 
salem by  Titus.  Were  the  books  of  Moses  and  other 
prophets  prior  to  that  date?  Jesus  Christ  was  prior 
thereto  by  nearly  forty  years,  and  those  books  were  prior 
to  Him.  Nay,  further  back  and  up  along  the  course  of 
time  till  the  period  of  the  Maccabees,  we  know  them  to 
have  existed ;  and  still  upward  we  trace  them  till  the  Bab- 
ylonish captivity ;  and  even  thence  further  and  further, 
till  the  oldest  of  them  we  find  lying  in  the  tent  of  Moses, 
amid  the  wilderness,  in  the  shade  of  the  pillar  of  cloud  by 
day  and  in  the  glory  of  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night.  The 
predictions  prior  to  the  events?  Aye,  by  1,500  years. 
But  if  we  were  only  able  to  trace  them  back  to  a  hun- 
dred, to  fifty,  to  twenty-five,  ~to  ten  years,  before  the  over- 
throw of  Jerusalem,  it  were  priority  enough  for  demon- 
strating the  prescience  of  God  in  predictions  of  such 
events  as  these. 

For,  again,  are  they  not  such  events  as  were  remote 
from  human  view?  Self-evidently  such,  are  they  not? 
Six  months  before  they  began  to  occur — nay,  a  single  day 
— would  not  that  have  been  priority  of  prediction  more 
than  sufficient  to  have  baffled  the  keenest  sagacity  ?  For 
had  there  ever  before  been  a  history  of  any  people  like 
this  history  ?  Has  it  ever  been  reduplicated  ?  When  was 
such  a  dispersion  known  to  mankind  ?  When  such  a  pres- 
ervation ?  What  experience,  then — what  probability,  what 
cunning  at  guessing,  even  so  late  as  when  the  walls  of  the 
sacred  city  were  actually  tumbling — could  have  availed  to 
foretell  so  transcendent  phenomena?  When  Germans 
and  others  migrate  to  this  country  of  ours,  only  a  few 
generations  are  required  for  utterly  blotting  out  their  re- 
spective nationalities  and  merging  them  in  our  own ;  like 


224:    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

tributary  waters  unifying  with  the  ocean  and  becoming 
lost  in  the  rolling  waves.  Thus,  what  was  predicted  of 
the  Jews  is  wholly  opposed  to  experience.  Their  immor- 
tality as  a  landless  nation  is  unique,  prodigious.  The  con- 
centrated wisdom  of  the  world  could  not  have  guessed  it. 
Ages  have  seen  them  as  we  see  them  to-day ;  and  to-day, 
countryless,  cosmopolitan,  and,  for  all  that,  by  themselves, 
Jewish,  identical,  resilient,  vigorous,  they  are  the  miracle- 
people  of  mankind.  Who  could  have  foretold  it  one  hour 
before  it  began  to  be  ?  Who  could  have  foretold  its  con- 
tinuance even  after  it  had  begun  to  be  ?  And  yet  Moses 
foresaw  it  through  the  vista  of  fifteen  centuries ;  he,  their 
own  founder  and  legislator;  he,  while  on  his  triumphal 
march  to  lay  the  foundations  of  their  kingdom  in  Canaan, 
and  when  the  natural  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion  would 
have  shut  out  any  croakings  of  pessimism.  What,  then,  have 
we  in  these  predictions  of  the  prophets  ?  Scarce  anything 
in  a  man's  life,  that  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  know  or  be- 
lieve, transcends  in  certainty  the  answer  to  this  question. 
It  is  next,  in  evident  truth,  to  one's  consciousness  of  his 
own  existence.  It  is  SUPERNATUKALISM.  God's  presci- 
ence alone  could  have  supplied  the  prophets  with  a  pre- 
vision so  superhuman. 

But  precisely  as  was  the  revelation,  so  they  uttered 
themselves.  How  accurately,  and  to  a  pin's  point,  they 
reproduced  in  writing  what  God  had  given  them,  is  seen 
in  the  correspondence  of  the  events.  While  Nahuni  said 
that  Nineveh  should  be  destroyed,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah 
that  Babylon  should  be  destroyed,  and  Ezekiel  that  Egypt 
should  become  a  base  kingdom,  not  so  did  the  prophets 
say  of  the  Jews.  Of  that  people,  as  well  as  of  Babylon, 
prophesied  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah ;  but,  as  attested  by  the 
events,  they  never  got  things  mixed.  This  fact,  viewed 
alongside  of  the  tendencies  of  men  to  make  mistakes,  as- 
sures us  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  somehow,  no  matter  how, 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    225 

did  see  to  it,  that,  while  not  interfering  with  the  idiosyn- 
crasy of  the  writer,  there  yet  should  be  no  word  of  mis- 
statement.  God's  inspiration  of  the  holy  men  of  old  was 
as  well  a  protection  against  error  in  writing,  as  a  prompt- 
ing to  write  at  all. 

Once  more  as  to  prophecy  fulfilled.  Consider  certain 
predictions  relative  to  Jesus  Christ.  What  are  they  3 

That  a  certain  illustrious  Personage  should  come,  whom 
the  prophets  referred  to  as  the  Messiah  :  the  promised  and 
commissioned  one  from  God  who  should  be  the  Bringer 
of  salvation  from  sin,  and  of  light  and  glory,  to  men. 
That  He  should  be  born  of  a  virgin  mother.  That  He 
should  be  born  at  Bethlehem.  That  He  should  appear 
while  the  Second  Temple  would  be  standing,  and  within  a 
stated  number  of  years.  That  He  should  be  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah,  and  of  the  family  of  David.  That  He  should 
be  an  exceptionally  pure  and  holy  servant  of  God.  That 
He  should  be  a  marvellous  teacher ;  having  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit  of  counsel  and 
might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the 
Lord ;  knowing  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to  him 
that  is  weary,  preaching  good  tidings,  binding  up  the 
broken-hearted  ;  teaching  as  one  having  authority,  teach- 
ing as  the  infallible  guide  of  men.  That  He  should  be  a 
friend  of  the  wretched.  That  He  should  give  eyes  to  the 
blind,  ears  to  the  deaf,  a  tongue  to  the  dumb,  feet  to  the 
lame.  That  He  should  be  meek,  and  gentle,  and  tender, 
and  loving.  That  He  should  be  a  rebuker  of  sin,  incor- 
ruptible, the  supreme  champion  of  righteousness.  That 
He  should  claim  to  be  God.  That  He  should  have  a  fol- 
lowing from  among  the  poor  and  lowly.  That  He  should 
not  be  an  attractive  object  to  the  world.  That  He  should 
have  many  enemies,  who  would  hate  and  persecute  Him. 
That  He  should  be  a  great  sufferer.  That  His  visage 


226    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

should  be  marred,  being  a  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted 
with  grief.  That  He  should  be  betrayed  by  one  in  whom 
He  had  trusted.  That  He  should  be  sold  for  thirty  pieces 
of  silver.  That  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  should  be  paid 
to  a  potter.  That  He  should  give  His  back  to  be  scourged, 
and  His  cheek  to  be  smitten.  That  He  should  be  spit 
upon.  That  He  should  be  silent  and  submissive,  like  a 
cheep  before  its  shearers.  That  He  should  be  pierced  in 
His  hands  and  feet.  That  He  should  be  put  to  death. 
That  not  a  bone  of  Him  should  be  broken.  That  His  en- 
emies would  taunt  Him  in  the  midst  of  His  sufferings 
with  words  of  reproach  and  derision.  That  in  His  thirst 
they  would  give  Him  vinegar  to  drink.  That  His  cloth- 
ing should  be  divided  into  parts  and  be  distributed,  except 
that  for  His  coat  or  tunic  they  would  cast  lots.  That,  in 
addition  to  His  physical  sufferings,  His  agony  of  soul 
should  be  intense,  being  wounded  even  of  God,  wounded 
for  our  transgressions,  bruised  for  our  iniquities.  That 
He  should  cry  out,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  me  ? "  That,  therefore,  He  should  forgive  sins, 
and  justify  many.  That  He  should  die  as  a  malefactor, 
but  should  have  His  grave  with  the  rich.  That  He  should 
rise  from  the  dead,  and  should  ascend  to  heaven. 

Such  as  these  are  the  predictive  statements  pervading  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures.  Are  they  free  from  ambiguity  ? 
This  idea  of  the  Messiah  was  an  established  monopoly  of 
interests.  It  was  not  shadowy,  but  luminous ;  not  dimin- 
utive, but  mountainous.  It  was  underneath  and  over  and 
all  through  the  whole  grand  structure  of  the  teachings  of 
the  prophets.  They  allowed  no  two  interpretations  of  their 
announcement  of  the  coming  of  Messiah.  And  then  what 
variety  and  multiplicity  of  particulars.  How  definite,  and 
minute,  and  all-embracing.  A  long  chain  of  tangible 
links.  And  then  the  character  they  delineated — its  purity 
and  holiness,  its  wonders  of  deed  and  speech,  its  adorable 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  .INSPIRATION.     227 

wisdom,  its  authority,  its  incarnation  of  love  and  sweet- 
ness, its  condemnation  of  sin,  its  graciousness  to  the  sinner, 
its  claim  of  being  God,  its  meekness  in  suffering,  its  confi- 
dence in  the  Father,  its  conquest  of  death  and  the  grave, 
its  triumphal  ascension  to  heaven — what  unmistakable  ele- 
ments of  power,  and  beauty,  and  excellence,  and  majesty. , 
Oh !  here,  if  anywhere  in  the  world's  literature,  are  lim- 
pid thought  and  transparent  definiteness  of  meaning. 

And  was  Jesus  Christ  the  actual  correspondence  to 
these  statements  of  the  prophets  ?  Let  the  world  answer. 
Let  the  infidels  attest,  who,  despite  of  their  want  of  sym- 
pathy with  Him,  are  yet  fascinated  by  Him,  as  the  moth 
by  the  candle.  Let  the  admiration  and  the  reverence  of 
eighteen  centuries  bear  witness.  Let  the  advancement  of 
the  Christian  peoples,  even  though  but  partially  Christian- 
ized, decide ;  their  freedom  from  debasing  ignorance  and 
superstition,  their  high  sense  of  the  principles  of  morality, 
their  monumental  benevolences.  Whence  have  come  such 
blessings  to  them,  and  not  to  the  non-Christian  peoples  ? 
And  there  stand  the  Gospels.  There  stand  the  Apostolic 
Epistles.  There  stands  the  Christian  Church.  There 
stand  the  folios  and  the  octavos,  breathing  the  testimonies, 
and  thrilling  with  the  faith,  of  Christian  fathers,  and 
Christian  thinkers,  and  Christian  workers,  and  Christian 
heroes,  and  Christian  martyrs,  all  whose  memories  have 
suffused  with  their  fragrance  the  circling  ages.  It  is  his- 
tory that  declares,  with  a  thousand  voices,  the  fulfilment 
of  the  prophets  in  Jesus  the  Christ.  Meanwhile,  our  own 
consciousness,  turning  to  that  supernatural  character  as 
needle  to  the  pole,  becomes  experimentally  assured,  since 
thereby  we  steer  clear  of  both  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  the 
rock  of  agrosticism  and  all  intellectual  unrest,  and  the 
whirlpool  of  secularism  and  all  unspirituality. 

Were  these  statements  of  the  prophets,  then,  prior  to 
Jesus  Christ?  We  need  not  stop  to  prove  it  again.  The 


228    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INS P IRA  TION. 

question  is  its  own  answer.  Do  two  and  two  make  four? 
Daniel,  Zechariah,  Malachi,  Jeremiah,  Isaiah,  Mieah,  Mo- 
ses, and  all  of  them,  were  household  words  in  the  Jewish 
nation,  when  Jesus  loomed  up  to  view,  and  drew  to  Him- 
self the  confidence  of  the  humble,  and  the  hate  of  the 
proud. 

But  were  the  things  thus  foretold  remote  from  human 
view  ?  Why,  some  of  them  were  seemingly  almost  con- 
tradictory. That  Messiah  should  die  as  a  malefactor,  and 
yet  that  He  should  have  His  grave  with  the  rich  ;  that  not 
a  bone  of  Him  should  be  broken,  and  yet  that  He  should 
be  pierced  in  His  hands  and  feet,  just  where  the  bones  are 
so  numerous ;  that  He  should  be  pierced  in  hands  and 
feet,  while  yet  it  was  a  mode  of  punishment  unknown  to 
the  prophets,  and  involved  that  the  Jewish  people  should 
have  become  subjected  to  the  Romans,  a  nation  not  heard 
of  when  the  prediction  was  written ;  that  He  should  be, 
as  well  as  pure,  of  a  benevolence  so  loving,  of  a  benefi- 
cence so  active  and  effective,  and  yet  be  so  hated,  and  be 
murdered ;  that  He  should  be  God,  and  yet  be  put  to 
death  by  men — such  a  series  of  the  seeming  conflict  of 
facts  no  sane  mind  could  have  anticipated. 

And  some  of  the  things  were  contingent  on  human 
caprice;  on  incalculable  impulses  of  men  living  in  the 
distant  future.  That  Messiah  should  be  born  in  Bethle- 
hem, while  yet,  as  matter  of  fact,  His  mother  was  residing 
in  Galilee,  the  prediction  being  fulfilled  only  by  reason  of 
an  imperial  whim  of  Rome ;  that  His  clothing  should  be 
cut  up  and  distributed,  while  yet  one  of  the  garments 
should  be  exccpted  from  that  process ;  that  He  should  be 
put  to  death  as  well  as  be  scourged,  although,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  scourging  was  inflicted  by  Pilate  in  order  to 
forestall  the  violent  savagery  of  His  death ; — could  such 
freaks  of  men's  wills  have  come  within  the  mental  range  of 
the  far-distant  prophets  ? 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRA  TION.    229 

And  all  the  circumstances  were  of  a  kind  utterly  un- 
guessable.  Yery  especially  so,  the  Virgin  Motherhood, 
the  measured  number  of  years,  the  just  thirty  pieces  of 
silver.  A  foresight  of  details  like  these  was  indisputably 
miraculous. 

But,  leaving  the  circumstances,  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
Messianic  conception  itself  ?  True,  the  foremost  man  of 
Greece  felt  the  need,  and  longed  for  the  coming,  of  some 
Great  Unknown,  exclaiming,  "Oh,  when  shall  that  time 
come  ?  How  greatly  do  I  desire  to  see  that  man  who  he 
is."  But  Plato  had  no  means  of  identifying  the  Great 
Unknown.  It  was  only  a  vague,  indeterminate  yearning 
for  some  adequate  personage  to  intervene  between  man- 
kind and  their  wretchedness.  Whence,  then,  were  the 
Hebrew  prophets  enabled  to  describe  so  circumstantially, 
and  both  mentally  and  morally,  the  Great  Coming  One  ? 
How  was  it  that,  as  accomplished  limners,  they  drew  His 
portrait,  sent  it  down  the  ages,  and  astonished  the  later 
world,  when  the  Original  had  appeared,  by  the  perfection 
of  the  likeness?  Messiah's  personal  character, — how  did 
they  divine  it  ?  The  sages  of  mankind  had  never  thought 
within  sight  of  such  goodness  and  greatness.  Their  utter- 
most imaginings  had  never  hinted  at  anything  so  peerless- 
ly exceptional,  so  supremely  enravishing.  And  Messiah's 
official  character, — where  did  they  get  their  ideas  of  it  ? 
By  what  means  were  they  able  to  delineate  Him  as  the 
embodiment  of  the  spontaneous  mercy  to  men,  of  the  just, 
sin-hating  God?  How  did  they  conceive  of  His  suffer- 
ings at  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  Father,  of  His  conse- 
quent redeeming  death,  His  power  to  forgive  sins,  His  be- 
ing mighty  to  save  \  How  transcendent  their  flight  of 
sublimity  in  Messiah's  resurrection  :  a  celestial  conception, 
the  blaze  of  whose  glory  no  Icarus  of  human  genius  did 
ever  gaze  on  ;  the  waxen  wings  of  genius  invariably  melt- 
ing before  attaining  that  heaven  of  thought.  This  rounded 


230    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

immensity  of  Messiah's  character,  personal  and  official, 
— how  did  they  get  at  it  ?  With  what  eyes  of  flame  did 
they  see  into  the  darkness  of  coming  time,  and  forewrite 
the  veritable  history  of  Jesus  the  Christ  ? 

On  the  whole,  remote  to  the  prophets,  exceedingly  re- 
mote, remote  in  time,  remote  in  probability,  were  the  Mes- 
sianic events !  No  calculus  of  human  thought  could  pierce 
so  far.  It  is  supernaturalism,  therefore,  that  we  have  in 
their  prophecies ;  supernaturalism  burning  and  shining 
throughout. 

Yea,  throughout  their  words  as  well.  For  how  else 
could  they  have  threaded  their  ways  of  speech  so  narrowly 
amid  particulars  so  many,  so  minute,  so  seemingly  almost 
contradictory,  so  contingent  on  unaccountable  impulses  of 
men  centuries  off,  so  sublime,  so  far  above  the  farthest 
possible  flight  of  human  conception  ?  A  single  misty  im- 
pression, one  lapse  of  memory,  a  moment's  effervescence 
of  feeling,  might  easily  have  dropped  into  an  erroneous 
expression,  thus  falsifying  the  record  and  damaging  the 
evidences  of  the  Christ.  No,  the  prophets  wrote  just 
what  the  Holy  Ghost  had  taught  them  ;  for  also  He  stood 
guard  over  them,  and  their  pens,  although  moving  at  their 
own  wills,  made  no  false  entries. 

And  now  as  regards  our  second  division  of  the  subject 
— Prophecy  unfulfilled.  Do  those  predictions  of  the  Bi- 
ble that  are  as  yet  unaccomplished  exemplify  Inspiration  ? 
I  say,  Yes.  But  the  argument  to  prove  it  is  different 
in  kind  from  that  we  have  been  pursuing.  An  alleged 
prediction,  professedly  not  fulfilled,  cannot  of  course  be 
brought  as  yet  to  the  final  test  of  fulfilment.  But  the 
test  of  fulfilment  is  the  consummate  point  of  our  five  can- 
ons of  genuine  prediction.  Those  canons,  accordingly,  we 
now  lay  aside,  and  shall  seek  to  supply  their  place  with 
another  principle  of  reasoning. 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION,    231 

"We  turn  our  attention  to  the  class  of  prophecies  relating 
to  the  kingdom  of  the  Christ ;  of  which  a  large  propor- 
tion is  unfulfilled.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  writings 
as  well  of  the  New  Testament  as  of  the  Old.  The  princi- 
ple of  the  argument  is  this — the  phenomenal  unity  of  the 
prophets  in  their  teachings  concerning  the  kingdom. 

In  so  long  a  succession  of  prophets — from  Moses  to  John 
inclusive — they  have  all  taught  in  unison.  And  yet  their 
predictions  were  written,  from  time  to  time,  throughout  a 
period  of  fifteen  hundred  years.  The  writers,  too,  were  men 
of  different  habitudes  of  mind,  different  temperaments,  dif- 
ferent surroundings,  and  belonging  to  widely  separated 
ages  of  the  world.  Such  being  the  circumstances,  it  is  in- 
credible that,  on  a  subject  hidden  in  the  future,  of  vast 
proportions  and  superhuman  grandeur,  they  could  have 
prophesied  in  harmony,  except  they  had  been  under  an 
all-superintending  influence  from  God.  If  on  this  subject 
they  did  speak  in  harmony,  if  what  each  prophet  said  fitted 
to  its  place  in  one  grand  scheme,  if  all  the  contributions  of 
thought,  from  end  to  end  of  the  fifteen  hundred  years,  had 
only  the  effect  to  make  the  plan  grow  without  contraven- 
ing it,  then,  beyond  a  peradventure,  they  were  spokesmen 
of  God ;  they  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  This  is  the  principle  of  our  reasoning ;  and  now 
for  the  verification  of  it. 

What,  then,  is  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  predictions 
themselves  ? 

First,  Moses'  description  of  God's  covenant  with  Abra- 
ham. The  land  in  which  the  patriarch  was  sojourning 
was  pledged  both  to  himself  and  to  his  seed,  as  an  inher- 
itance forever.  From  amongst  his  seed  or  posterity  there 
should  come  forth  kinghood,  as  well  as  the  subjects  of 
kinghood.  And  the  blessedness  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  was 'identified  with  him.  These  promises  were  the 
laying  of  foundations ;  the  beginnings  of  a  kingdom,  a 


232    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

glorious  kingdom.  Territory,  kinghood,  subjects — all 
were  provided  for.  The  kinghood  should  be  realized  only 
within  the  posterity  of  Abraham.  So  also  as  to  the  sub- 
jects of  the  kingdom  ;  since  the  territory  of  the  kingdom 
should  be  occupied  by  his  posterity  alone.  And  yet  all 
nations  of  the  earth  should  be  beneficiaries  of  the  kingdom 
even  to  the  extent  of  finding  their  very  blessedness  in 
their  connection  with  Abraham.  Such  was  the  plan  of 
the  kingdom  as  revealed  in  the  Abrahamic  covenant.  But 
Moses  did  himself  expressly  connect  this  covenant  with 
a  Great  Promised  One — a  Prophet  like  himself,  whom 
the  Lord  should  raise  up,  and  whose  authority  should  be 
supreme :  thus  identifying  the  Abrahamic  kinghood,  at 
least  in  its  ultimate  form,  with  that  Coming  One. 

Secondly,  Moses'  description  of  the  institution  of  the 
Theocracy  at  Sinai.  Jehovah  dwelt  in  His  royal  resi- 
dence, the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  tabernacle.  He  was  civil 
ruler,  as  web!  as  the  object  of  worship.  And  the  High- 
Priest  of  Israel  was  His  minister  of  state.  Now,  the  ter- 
ritory over  which  the  Theocracy  was  set  up  was  identi- 
cally the  same  as  what  had  been  covenanted  to  Abraham  ; 
and  identically  the  same  were  the  subjects  of  the  Theoc- 
racy. It  was,  accordingly,  an  outgrowth  of  that  covenant, 
and  was,  therefore,  the  Abrahamic  kingdom  showing  itself 
as  an  earnest.  And  thus  in  the  Shechinah  Glory  of  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  it  was  symbolically  shown  that  the  ulti- 
mate promised  kinghood  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
should  be  a  Divine  Kinghood  ;  that  the  King,  the  Great 
Coming  One  of  Moses,  should  be  God,  although  being  of 
the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  ruling  in  person  on  earth. 

Thirdly,  Moses'  prediction  of  the  temporary  overthrow 
of  the  Theocracy  for  the  wickedness  of  the  nation,  and  of 
its  eventual  restoration :  which  restoration  should  be  the 
Kingdom  in  its  consummate  and  final  form. 

So  far,  the  great  plan  of  the  Kingdom  as  given  by  Mo- 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRA  TION.     233 

ses.  Its  salient  features  were  these :  an  earthly  land — the 
posterity  of  Abraham  its  subjects — all  peoples  of  the  earth 
brought  within  its  blessed  power — a  King,  at  once  a  de- 
scendant of  Abraham  and  God  reigning  in  person — a  true 
Theocracy,  therefore — the  overthrow  of  the  Theocratic 
Kingdom  as  established  at  Sinai — its  glorious  re-establish-' 
inent. 

Now,  see  how  this  plan  developed  in  the  long  ages  fol- 
lowing. 

First,  as  recorded  by  Samuel,  the  prophet  Nathan's  ac- 
count, 400  years  after  Moses,  of  God's  covenant  with  Da- 
vid. The  Theocracy  was  incorporated  with  the  line  of 
David.  The  Theocratic  Kingdom  was  established  in  the 
person  of  David,  as  progenitor  and  type  of  Him,  of  whom 
this  covenant  said,  "  He  shall  be  the  Son  of  God,"  and  of 
whom,  instantly  afterward,  David  said,  "  The  Adam  from 
above,  God  Jehovah."  In  Him,  David's  descendant  and 
royal  heir,  the  Theocratic  Kingdom  should  be  established 
forever.  Thus,  God's  Kingdom  on  earth  should  coincide 
with  David's  Kingdom,  transmitted  to,  and  magnified  in, 
David's  greater  Son.  This  was  additional  information, 
but  in  nothing  was  the  Davidic  covenant  out  of  harmony 
with  what  went  before.  David  and,  through  him,  the 
Adam  from  above,  were  both  of  the  children  of  Abraham. 
Still  the  same  territory  and  the  same  subjects,  the  same 
promised  One,  the  same  final  consummation.  Only,  the 
Theocracy  was  now  plainly  expressed  in  words,  and,  in 
wedlock  Divine,  was  married  forever  to  the  lineage  of 
David. 

Secondly,  Isaiah's  prediction,  near  300  years  after  Na- 
than's time,  that  He,  who  should  be  Yirgin-born,  and 
whose  name  should  be  Wonderful,  Counselor,  the  mighty 
God,  the  Father  of  eternity,  the  Prince  of  peace,  should 
take  the  government,  and  exercise  it  upon  the  'throne  of 
David,  to  order  it,  and  to  establish  it,  with  judgment  and 


234:    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

justice,  from  henceforth,  even  forever ;  and  that  of  the 
increase  of  his  government  and  prosperity  there  should  be 
no  end.  So,  though  hundreds  of  years  have  passed,  the 
same  great  plan ;  but  with  increasing  clearness.  How 
much  more  fully  and  strongly  the  Theocracy  is  stated. 
And  what  an  illumination  is  thrown  back,  through  700 
years,  on  that  Abrahamic  blessedness  of  all  nations  of  the 
earth  predicted  by  Moses ;  for,  according  to  Isaiah,  that 
universal  blessedness  should  be  brought  about  by  the  en- 
largement of  the  Theocracy,  and  its  universal  extension 
over  the  nations. 

Thirdly,  a  succession  of  many  prophets,  whom  we  can- 
not stop  to  specify,  living  at  different  times,  all  repeating 
one  or  another  of  thjese  same  features  of  the  great  plan, 
some  giving  further  development  to  one  or  another  of 
them,  some  dwelling  on  the  disastrous  condition  of  the 
Jewish  people,  the  result  of  the  temporary  overthrow  of 
the  Theocratic  kingdom,  some  exulting  in  the  final  reha- 
bilitation of  the  Theocracy  in  the  revived  kingdom  of 
David. 

Fourthly,  Luke's  record  of  the  angel's  substantial  reci- 
tation to  the  Virgin  Mother  of  Isaiah's  prediction  :  where- 
in the  prophet-evangelist  gave  evidence,  that  Isaiah's  con- 
ceptions of  the  Theocratic  kingdom  in  the  line  of  David, 
which  were  at  one  with  the  Abrahamic  covenant  described 
by  Moses  700  years  before  Isaiah's  time,  were  still,  now 
700  years  after  his  time,  definite  and  vivid  in  the  mind  of 
the  nation. 

Fifthly,  Jesus  himself,  the  veritable  Son  of  David,  son 
of  Abraham,  in  the  earlier  part  of  His  ministry,  making 
the  offer  of  the  kingdom  to  the  Jews,  saying,  "  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  and,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
come  nigh  to  you."  Whereas,  in  the  later  months  of  His 
ministry,  because  of  His  rejection  by  the  nation,  and  as 
soon  as  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  in  council  assem- 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    235 

bled,  had  conspired  to  put  Him  to  death,  expressly  with- 
drawing the  offer,  and  postponing  the  kingdom  to  a  future 
period  ;  as,  for  instance,  when,  u  because  they  thought  that 
the  kingdom  of  God  should  immediately  appear,"  He 
spoke  the  parable  of  a  certain  nobleman  going  into  a  far 
country  to  receive  for  himself  a  kingdom,  and  to  return, 
and  who,  having  received  the  kingdom,  did  return. 
Wherein,  the  revival  of  the  Theocracy  was  fixed  for  the 
time  of  his  Second  Advent.  Meanwhile,  by  reason  of  this 
postponement,  the  predictions  of  the  prophets  concerning 
the  disasters  of  the  Jews  had  their  opportunity  of  fulfil- 
ment. How  perfectly  the  great  plan  is  preserved,  and 
yet  how  it  lengthens  and  widens  under  this  increase  of 
light. 

Sixthly,  Paul  predicting  that  all  Israel  should  be  saved, 
and  rehearsing  the  old  promise  that  Abraham  should  be 
the  heir  of  the  world  (Rom.  iv.  13 ;  xi.  26).  Also  an- 
nouncing the  Gospel  principle  of  the  grafting  of  Gentile 
believers  into  the  Jewish  olive-tree,  and  of  their  adoption 
as  children  of  Abraham  (Rom.  xi.  17 ;  Gal.  iii.  29).  And 
so,  in  the  long  development  of  the  plan,  was  at  length  ex- 
plained how  it  could  be,  that,  while  the  kingdom  is  Abra- 
hamic,  and  is  exclusively  appropriated  to  the  children  of 
Abraham,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  conie  to  be 
equal  sharers  in  the  same  kingdom.  The  whole  evangel- 
ized world,  by  means  of  faith  in  Christ,  should  become 
incorporated  with  the  family  of  Abraham. 

Seventhly,  John's  prophecy  of  "  the  Lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah,  the  Root  of  David";  of  "the  New  Jerusalem J>; 
of  "  the  tabernacle  of  God  with  men."  The  same  plan  to 
the  very  end.  And  now  it  stands  complete.  The  Christ, 
at  length  the  Lion  conqueror  for  Abraham's  people. 
The  Root  of  the  Davidic  covenant — having  caused  that 
covenant  to  grow,  till,  in  the  end,  it  shall  have  blossomed 
into  David's  own  Messianic  ideal,  "  The  Just  One  ruling 


236    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

over  men,  arising  upon  the  world  as  the  light  of  the  morn- 
ing, of  a  morning  without  clouds."  The  New  Jerusalem 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven — a  bride  adorned 
for  her  Davidic  husband.  The  tabernacle  of  God  with 
men  :  God  in  personal  residence  on  the  earth,  the  Theoc- 
racy re-established,  all  tears  wiped  away,  no  more  death, 
neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  no  more  pain ;  and  when,  in 
the  words  of  Jesus,  the  Father's  will  shall  be  done  on 
earth,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 

Such  is  a  meagre  outline  of  the  unity  of  the  prophets 
in  their  teachings  of  the  kingdom.  A  large  proportion 
of  their  predictions  are  as  yet  unfulfilled.  The  govern- 
ment from  the  throne  of  David  is  not  now  being  exer- 
cised. The  Theocracy  is  not  in  existence.  The  universal 
religious  prosperity,  spoken  of  by  the  prophets,  has  not 
come  to  pass.  Infidels  have  seen  that  these  things  are 
connected  with  the  prophetic  kingdom  most  expressly, 
most  positively,  most  inseparably,  and  have  taken  occa- 
sion, because  of  their  not  being  fulfilled,  to  deny  the  truth 
of  all  prophecy.  But  they  have  confounded  the  publica- 
tion of  Christianity  with  the  kingdom ;  neglecting  the 
fact  that  Jesus  himself  has  expressly  postponed  the  king- 
dom. The  Church  is  not  the  kingdom.  But  do  not  these 
unfulfilled  predictions  vindicate  their  own  truth  ?  Is  not 
their  eventual  accomplishment  already  casting  its  shadow 
before  ? 

For  what  sort  of  a  fact  is  this  unity  of  the  prophetic 
teachings  ?  Was  there  ever  anything  like  it  ?  Fancy  the 
wise  men  of  Greece,  all  along  the  successive  centuries  of 
its  history,  writing  on  one  and  the  same  subject,  thinking 
the  same  thoughts  of  it,  maintaining  and  developing  the 
same  plan  of  it.  Fancy  them, — whether  they  be  a  Solon, 
a  Socrates,  an  Aristotle,  poets,  orators,  tillers  of  the  soil, 
herdsmen — whether  they  write  from  among  the  cultured 
newsmongers  of  Athens,  or  from  lonely  dell  or  mountain 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    237 

— whether  in  adverse  or  in  prosperous  circumstances,  in 
the  early  dewy  morning  of  their  national  life,  or  when  the 
lassitude  of  the  nation's  evening  is  settling  upon  them, — 
fancy  them  as  joining  voices  across  the  ages,  and  encircling 
their  country's  history  with  a  chorus  of  sweetness  and 
sublimity.  Would  not  that  be  a  phenomenon,  at  which 
the  philosophers  would  bow  down  and  worship?  And 
yet,  just  this  is  what  has  been  done  by  the  Hebrew  proph- 
ets. How  shall  it  be  accounted  for  ?  In  view  of  the  dif- 
ferences of  minds,  and  of  the  different  influences  of  suc- 
cessive times,  how  was  it  that  one  dominant  plan,  one 
dominant  hope,  ran  throughout  1,500  years?  that  the 
Abrahamic  covenant  was  the  one  golden  thread  on  which 
the  prophets,  from  Moses  to  John,  strung  their  pearls? 
that  each  one  brought  his  contribution  to  the  ever-growing 
architecture  of  so  long  a  period,  and  fitted  it  to  its  place, 
as  beveled  edge  is  mortised  into  its  socket? 

See  yonder  gorgeous  palace.  What  a  multitude  of 
workmen  have  been  connected  with  it  from  first  to  last. 
The  diggers  with  their  mattocks ;  then  they  that  carry  the 
hod,  and  they  that  lay  the  stone ;  next,  the  carpenters, 
with  plane  and  saw ;  and  last,  the  painters,  the  carvers, 
the  upholsterers.  Through  several  years  the  building  has 
continued  to  grow,  till  now,  from  foundation  to  pinnacle, 
it  stands  before  us  in  finished  beauty  and  grandeur.  How 
was  it  that  there  was  no  confusion  among  the  workmen  ? 
How  came  it  that  each  stone  lay  in  its  proper  place,  and 
each  timber  filled  the  space  waiting  for  it?  that  each 
stroke  of  the  decorator's  art  is  just  where  it  should  be  ? 
How  could  so  many  ever-changing  hands  have  combined 
to  create  a  work,  whose  effect  upon  us,  as  a  whole,  is  as 
though  it  were  a  piece  of  music  in  wood  and  stone? 
Only  because  all  the  operations,  from  beginning  to  end, 
have  been  under  the  control  of  one  master  Mind. 

Look  now  at  this  plan  of  the  kingdom.    What  relays  of 


238    BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION. 

prophets.  What  various  tasks.  What  changes  of  epochs 
and  surroundings.  Through  fifty  generations  they  wrought, 
and  they  died.  On  and  up  the  vast  structure  grew.  Each 
thought  of  each  writer  was  built  into  one  grand  scheme. 
And  now  it  stands  in  the  pages  of  John  a  perfected  whole 
— a  vision  of  the  glory  of  God.  How  was  it  that  fifty  gen- 
erations of  writers  so  wrought  in  unison  ?  Only  because 
they  were  all  presided  over  by  one  master  Mind — God  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Yea,  "  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets 
praise  Thee,  O  God  "  !  They  all  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Aye,  spake  as  well  as  thought.  If  any  workman  on 
yonder  palace  had  not  actually  placed  the  stone  and  the 
timber  just  where  the  architect  had  planned  for  it  to  go, 
what  derangement  would  have  supervened,  notwithstand- 
ing the  architect  had  given  his  instructions.  Hence  the 
appointment  of  a  master-workman  to  watch  and  make 
sure.  Now  the  using  of  words  was  the  prophet's  actual 
placing  of  the  instructions  of  the  Spirit.  If  His  words 
had  been  wrong,  the  instructions  had  been  wrongly 
placed,  and  the  plan  had  been  damaged.  Hence  the 
Spirit's  supervision  of  his  words.  The  workman,  how- 
ever, although  watched  and  guarded,  exerted  his  own 
strength  in  placing  the  stone ;  and  the  prophet,  although 
secured  against  error  in  his  words,  did  yet  use  his  own 
words  in  writing  out  the  thoughts  of  the  Spirit.  If,  there- 
fore, the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  like  an  aureole,  encircled 
his  speech,  yet  within  that  circle  of  light  were  the  sparkles 
of  his  own  individuality. 

I  have  done.  We  have  but  glanced  at  our  subject. 
But  could  I  have  arrayed  before  you  the  whole  mighty 
mass  of  the  argument  from  prophecy,  it  would  have  been 
only  one  of  the  many  lines  of  proof  of  the  full  inspiration 
of  the  Bible.  What  greater  assurance  could  we  desire  ? 


BEARING  OF  PROPHECY  ON  INSPIRATION.    239 

When,  therefore,  the  Bible  tells  me,  that  man  was  not 
evolved  from  the  brute,  but  directly  created  of  God,  I  be- 
lieve it ;  for  thus  saith  the  Lord.  When  it  tells  me,  that 
I  can  know  God's  will  concerning  me,  and  that  Agnosti- 
cism is  false,  I  believe  it ;  for  thus  saith  the  Lord.  When 
it  tells  me,  that  I  am  a  sinner  and  helpless ;  that  God  will 
fearfully  punish  sin,  yet  that  He  loves  me  and  would  save 
me ;  that  Christ  hath  redeemed  me  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  being  made  a  curse  for  me;  that  whosoever  trusts 
in  Christ  hath  everlasting  life; — all  of  it  I  believe,  for 
thus  saith  the  Lord.  And  when,  on  whatever  subject,  it 
teaches  ine  God's  thoughts,  that  I  may  have  the  honor 
and  the  felicity  of  thinking  with  God  ;  when,  especially, 
it  opens  up  to  my  view  enchanting  visions  of  goodness  and 
glory  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Christ; — all  its  teachings, 
most  reverently,  most  thankfully,  I  welcome  to  my  heart 
of  hearts.  For  the  Book  is  itself  God's  own  voice  out  of 
the  heavens ;  and  "  just  as  the  thunder  of  heaven  is  even- 
toned,  and  is  always  like  itself  in  awful  grandeur,  and  is 
unlike  other  sounds  of  earth,"  so  God's  voice  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  always  majestic  and  commanding,  always  true  and 
trustworthy,  always  unlike  the  babbling  voices  of  men. 

"  Each  word  of  Thine  a  gem 

From  the  celestial  mines, 
A  sunbeam  from  that  holy  heaven 

Where  holy  sunlight  shines. 
A  thousand  hammers  keen, 

With  fiery  force  and  strain, 
Brought  down  on  it  in  rage  and  hate, 

Have  struck  this  gem  in  vain. 
It  standeth  and  will  stand, 

Without  or  change  or  age, 
The  word  of  majesty  and  light, 

The  cliurch's  heritage." 


JESUS  THE  SUPREME  WITNESS  AND  EXAM- 
PLE OF  INSPIRATION. 

HOWARD    OSGOOD. 

HISTORICAL  investigation  is  founded  on  monuments  and 
documents.  The  monuments  of  Jesus  Christ  are,  pri- 
marily, His  people  in  all  the  ages;  they  are  His  wit- 
nesses, they  are  the  cities  set  on  hills.  The  documents 
of  Jesus  are,  primarily,  the  gospels  and  the  other  writings 
of  the  New  Testament.  And  according  to  the  strictest 
law  of  historical  criticism,  the  ultimate  decision  as  to  the 
character  and  import  of  documents  rests,  not  upon  the 
fine  mold  of  mere  criticism  of  words,  not  upon  rightful 
conception  of  historical  relations,  however  useful  these 
may  be,  but  upon  the  firm  bed-rock  of  the  character  of  the 
witness  testifying  in  the  documents.  This  character,  if 
honest,  intelligent,  thoroughly  informed,  disinterested, 
faithful,  finds  its  echo  in  man,  who  can  recognize  and  be 
attracted  by  noble  character,  however  far  from  it  he  may 
know  himself  to  be. 

In  all  ages  there  has  risen  before  men,  as  they  have 
read  and  reread  the  gospels,  the  character  of  Jesus.  This 
character  is  not  found  more  in  one  part  than  in  another 
of  the  gospels.  But  as  the  vapor,  with  healing  on  its 
wings,  rises  from  every  part  of  the  ocean  and  forms  the 
clouds,  bringing  life  and  refreshing  to  the  earth  and  man, 
so,  from  the  words,  the  acts,  the  incidents  of  daily  life, 
all  the  minutiae  of  artless  narrative,  as  well  as  from  the 
doctrines  taught,  from  the  doctrine  of  simplicity  and  love, 
illustrated  by  the  infant  taken  in  His  arms,  to  the  doctrine 
of  infinite,  eternal  power  and  Godhood,  from  each  and 
(240) 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  241 

every  part  of  the  gospels  there  arises  a  character,  stamped 
with  the  traits  of  honesty  and  intelligence,  of  high  prin- 
ciple and  goodness,  of  fortitude  and  love. 

This  character,  which  is  the  effulgence  of  the  gospels, 
and  the  impress  of  their  substance,  is  not  the  result  of  the 
cunning  art  of  a  tax-gatherer,  two  fishermen,  and  a  phy- 
sician. The  evangelists  frequently  remind  us  that  they 
did  not  understand  this  character.  They  were  slow  to 
appreciate  it.  They  simply  tell  in  unadorned  language 
what  they  saw  and  heard,  or  learned  by  testimonies  they 
could  not  doubt.  They  stand  as  far  below  this  character 
revealed  in  their  writings,  as  when,  "over  against  Beth- 
any," "  while  He  blessed  them,  He  parted  from  them, 
and  was  carried  up  into  heaven,"  they  stood  "looking 
steadfastly  into  heaven  as  He  went."  The  evangelists 
show  every  mark  of  the  spirit  of  their  age ;  but  only  the 
extreme  school,  who  deny  th6  supernatural,  deny  to  Je- 
sus what  every  one  else  sees  in  Him,  absolute  freedom 
from  the  spirit  of  His  age.  This  character  was  not,  as  it 
could  not  be,  the  art  of  men  whom  their  contemporaries 
styled  "unlearned  and  ignorant,"  nor  could  it  be  the 
device  of  fraud  or  enthusiasm.  Under  the  supreme  law 
of  historic  criticism,  as  well  as  according  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  men  in  every  age,  under  every  clime,  of  every 
color,  this  character  becomes,  as  it  ever  has  been  and  will 
be,  the  highest  proof  and  plainest  seal  of  the  gospels  that 
reveal  it. 

This  character  is  marked  in  all  its  lineaments  with 
honesty,  that  is,  with  "  fairness  and  straightforwardness 
of  thought,  speech,  act,  purpose."  However  men  have 
interpreted  His  acts  or  words,  and  differed  from  them, 
the  centuries  have  been  free  from  the  accusation  of  insin- 
cerity or  unfairness  or  dishonesty  in  Jesus.  He  was  sin- 
cere in  His  convictions,  and  proved  His  sincerity  against 
the  appeals  of  friends,  and  the  last  resort  of  foes.  This 


24:2  JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

honesty  shone  out  in  the  native,  imperturbable  dignity  of 
His  bearing  ;  it  was  both  a  principle  and  a  habit.  And 
1,800  years  of  criticism  have  failed  to  find  the  flaw  which 
proved  that  at  any  moment  He  was  derelict  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  purest,  loftiest  morality.  But  there  seems 
to  be,  on  the  part  of  a  few,  at  the  present  day,  a  tendency 
to  deny  to  Jesus  the  highest  powers  of  mind.  He  is  said 
to  be  of  uncompromising  honesty,  our  Master  in  the  prac- 
tical religious  life ;  but  as  to  the  evidences  in  Jesus  of 
those  powers  of  mind  which  deal  with  the  highest  forms 
of  knowledge — that  is,  what  we  style  intellect,  as  distin- 
guished from  intelligence  and  understanding — we  are  told 
that  the  learning  of  this  day  has  shown  that  He  did  not 
possess  them.  Let  us  consider  this  denial  for  a  moment. 
What  is  the  highest  realm  of  mind  ?  Is  it  not  that  where 
the  mind  grasps  and  deals  with  ultimate  principles  of  the 
material  world,  or  of  the  world  of  intellect,  affections, 
will  ?  If  we  find  a  writer  that  has  made  even  one  ulti- 
mate principle  his  theme,  and  upon  that  theme  has  given 
to  the  world  some  advance  of  sound  thought,  we  praise 
him  as  a  master  among  men.  Look  back  over  the  history 
of  man  :  how  few  have  been  the  men  who  have  advanced 
the  thought  of  the  world  on  any  single  great  principle, 
and  how  slight  has  been  the  advance  made  by  any  single 
mind.  But  grant  that  many  minds  may  think  freshly 
and  truly  upon  ultimate  principles,  and  that  the  conscious 
purpose  of  this  thinking  is  the  highest  known,  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  benefit  of  man,  what  is  the  final  com- 
plex, the  concrete  result  of  such  thinking,  on  which  man 
has  set  his  seal  as  the  utmost  reach  of  human  powers  ?  Is 
it  not  the  embodiment  of  the  simplest,  ultimate  principles 
in  the  noblest  characters?  Shakespeare  remains  one  of 
the  few  master-minds  of  all  the  centuries.  Plato's  think- 
ing, in  most  concrete  form,  is  embodied  in  his  conception 
of  the  character  to  which  he  has  giveu  the  name  of  Soc- 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  243 

rates.  Yet  in  these,  and  the  few  other  world-masters  of 
thought,  we  look  in  vain  for  the  drawing  of  a  perfect 
character.  Was  it  the  defect  of  their  thought,  or  the  in- 
congruity of  putting  a  perfect  character  into  a  world  so 
full  of  all  that  is  contrary  to  it,  that  has  resulted  in  the 
imperfections  of  their  creations?  There  is  no  evidence 
that  Plato  or  Shakespeare  ever  imagined  a  perfect  charac- 
ter. And  the  difficulty  of  making  a  perfect  character  at 
home  in  the  world,  was  clearly  perceived  by  hoth. 

This  overmastering  reach  of  mind  is  patent  in  Jesus 
Christ.  That  perfect  character,  which  is  the  last  analysis 
and  synthesis  of  the  gospels,  to  which  the  writers  give 
their  testimony,  but  in  which  they  had  no  part ;  that 
character,  simple,  pellucid,  without  a  flaw,  itself  the  home 
and  exhibition  of  every  ultimate  principle,  recognizable  by 
the  human  mind — that  character,  in  its  principles,  its 
acts,  its  purposes,  was  "  the  clear  conception,  the  perma- 
nent realized  ideal  of  Jesus,  and  of  Him  only."  That 
character  was  wholly  unknown  to  the  world  before,  and, 
hence,  like  every  advance  of  thought  which  condemns 
the  hoary  inherited  errors  of  the  present,  the  mistakes 
and  misconceptions  and  fond  ideals  of  friends  or  foes,  it 
was  misunderstood  and  doubted  by  His  dearest  friends, 
and  by  His  foes  it  was  gibbeted  on  Calvary  for  the  scorn 
of  the  world. 

Granted  the  possibility  of  the  conception  of  a  perfect 
character,  an  ideal  never  lost,  there  is  still  a  difficulty  no 
human  mind  has  ever  even  attempted  to  overcome,  that 
is,  to  exhibit  such  a  character  radiant  in  the  smallest  acts 
of  daily  life,  in  the  homeliest  duties,  in  the  lowliest  con- 
descension and  ministry  of  deed  and  doctrine ;  and  to  bear 
it  successfully  through  the  scoff  of  the  worldling,  the  keen- 
est antagonism  of  the  refined  dialectics  of  the  self-right- 
eous, through  the  misunderstandings  and  betrayal  by 
friends,  the  awful  sufferings  of  a  prolonged  death  in  full 


244:  JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

sight  of  men.  Yet  this  is  just  what  Jesus  has  done  in 
His  own  life,  not  in  the  less  difficult  task  of  portraying 
that  life  in  another.  The  conception  of  this  character  was 
that  of  Jesus  alone.  This  conception  in  all  its  minutiae 
and  in  its  entirety  was  ever  before  Him,  so  that  there  is 
no  discordant  trait,  and  He  was  this  character  in  this  very 
world,  in  which  no  human  brain  has  ever  before  or  since 
even  attempted  to  introduce  a  perfect  character.  If  the 
universal  canon  of  human  judgment  as  to  the  possession  of 
the  highest  powers  of  intellect,  the  capacity  for  the  high- 
est forms  of  knowledge,  the  analytic  and  synthetic  powers 
in  the  utmost  stretch  of  their  capacity, — if  this  canon  is 
of  avail,  then  Jesus  must  be  credited  with  the  possession 
of  mental  powers  beyond  any  other  being  who  ever  lived 
on  this  earth. 

It  is  now  rather  the  fashion  in  some  circles  to  compare 
Jesus  with  Sakia-Mouni,  Confucius,  Mahomet,  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  these  last.  Let  any  one  compare  Jesus'  concep- 
tion of  His  character  with  the  conceptions  of  character  by 
other  men,  and,  by  all  the  laws  of  intellect,  Jesus  moves 
above  them  as  far  as  the  sun  above  its  reflex  on  the 
wavelet. 

The  critical  school  of  the  present  day  that  denies  to  Je- 
sus anything  but  a  "  restricted  intellectual  outfit  and  out- 
look," affirms  that  His  views  were  totally  at  variance  with 
the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament  rightly  understood. 
Suppose  we  grant  this  for  the  moment.  Then  we  must 
say  that  His  plan  for  the  good  of  mankind  was  wholly 
His  own. 

This  Man  of  thorough  honesty  of  principle  and  life,  of 
mental  power  beyond  all  others,  who  alone  held  the  con- 
ception of  a  perfect  life  and  alone  realized  it, — this  One 
had  a  definite  plan  before  Him. 

History  is  full  of  the  names  of  leaders  of  men,  warriors, 
statesmen,  philanthropists.  Their  names  have  come  down 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  245 

to  us,  not  because  they  were  the  children  of  fortune,  but 
because  of  their  plans  conceived  by  minds  of  immense 
grasp  and  carried  out  by  their  power  over  men.  It  is  this 
evidence  of  superior  mental  vigor  and  grasp  that  has  en- 
throned Thotmes  III.,  Alexander,  Csesar,  Napoleon,  among 
kings  over  the  kings  of  earth.  But  these  men  planned 
for  dominion,  wealth,  glory.  No  one  denies  that  self  oc- 
cupied the  first  place  in  these  vast  schemes.  Their  steps 
to  power  were  the  multitudes  of  their  slain.  With  each 
of  them  their  plans  perished  also.  If  these  plans,  which 
filled  the  world  with  the  glare  of  war  and  carnage  and 
perished  with  their  authors,  are  yet  accounted  the  sure 
evidence  of  intellectual  powers  of  the  highest  order,  what 
shall  be  said  of  the  plan  of  Jesus  ?  This  plan  embraced 
not  a  part  of  men,  but  men  in  all  ages,  of  all  climes,  the 
whole  habitable  globe.  Its  aim  was  to  bring  men  of  all  na- 
tions to  the  love  and  service  of  God,  to  the  love  and  ser- 
vice of  each  other,  to  turn  the  world  from  its  ceaseless 
moan  of  sin  and  anguish,  to  "  righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit,"  which  is  "  the  kingdom  of  God." 
And  this  was  to  be  accomplished  by  those  who  loved  Him 
just  telling  the  story  of  the  life  and  death  and  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  that  men,  believing  this,  should,  by  love  for 
Him,  be  led  to  live  as  Jesus  lived,  for  God  and  for  man. 
This  plan  overtops  all  other  plans  of  the  greatest  of  men, 
as  far  as  the  whole  world  exceeds  any  of  its  parts.  Here 
is  entire  absence  of  self,  for  the  plan  includes  as  its  first 
step  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  He  affirmed  that  ages  must 
pass  before  His  plan  should  attain  its  end  in  the  hands  of 
others.  This  plan  in  its  infinite,  beneficent  reach,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  all  self-seeking,  in  the  utter  simplicity  of  its  mo- 
tive and  means  of  accomplishment,  in  its  absolute  contra- 
diction of  the  most  firmly  intrenched  beliefs  of  His  day, 
this  plan  was  original  with  Jesus,  and  is  to-day,  1,800 
years  after  His  death,  in  greater  vigor  of  extension  than 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

ever  before.  Surely,  if  the  highest  powers  of  mind,  all 
permeated  with  love  and  benevolence  and  disinterested- 
ness, ever  appeared  on  earth,  they  are  found  only  in  Jesus. 

The  thoughtful,  reverent  lovers  of  their  fellow-men 
have  in  all  ages  awarded  the  highest  places  among  the 
teachers  of  men  to  the  sound  thinkers  on,  and  teachers  of, 
morals.  Confucius  has  on  this  ground  held  his  place  of 
teacher  to  one-fourth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe  for 
more  than  2,000  years.  But  among  all  who  have  thus 
been  exalted,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Supreme  Master.  Even 
the  denial  of  intellectual  outfit  to  Jesus  is  accompanied 
with  the  acknowledgment  that  He  is  our  Master  in  His 
practical  religious  teaching. 

With  what  ease  Jesus  moved  as  at  home  in  the  highest 
ethical  problems  is  shown  by  the  lightning  flash  of  His 
reply  to  the  insidious  query  of  the  Pharisees :  "  Is  it  law- 
ful for  us  to  give  tribute  unto  Caesar  or  not  ?  "  "  Render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's  ";  which  determines  forever  man's 
duty  to  the  State  and  to  God.  Or  consider  that  digest  of 
law  on  the  widest  possible  field  of  human  activity  :  "  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind ";  "  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Or  take  the  precept,  applica- 
ble wherever  man  meets  man,  "As  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them  likewise."  These 
few  examples  are  sufficient  to  prove  the  possession  by  Je- 
sus of  the  highest  powers  of  abstract  thought  on  the  sub- 
tlest relations  of  man,  and  of  the  power,  quite  as  marvel- 
lous, of  concentrating  that  thought  in  the  simplest  propo- 
sitions, so  that  a  child  can  understand  them. 

In  addition  to  all  these  high  qualities  Jesus  was  also 
Master  in  the  learning,  which  is  the  result  of  serious  study 
and  accurate  thought,  on  the  main  subject  of  all  His  teach- 
ing, the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament.  He  was  the 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  247 

Son  of  a  mother  "  highly  favored  "  of  God,  the  sanctified 
temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Her  husband  was  also  one 
who  had  found  favor  with  God.  Under  the  care  and 
teaching  of  these  two  holy  servants  of  Jehovah,  Jesus 
passed  His  earliest  years.  At  twelve  years  of  age  He  was 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, their  only  Bible.  When,  eighteen  years  after  this, 
He  enters  on  His  life-work,  He  proves  how  diligent  had 
been  His  study  of  the  Old  Testament.  He  knew  it  in 
both  the  original  Hebrew,  and  in  its  accepted  translation, 
the  Greek.  Whenever  He  had  gone  as  a  listening  child 
to  the  synagogue,  He  had  heard  read  only  the  Hebrew 
text  followed  by  the  spoken  Aramaic  paraphrase ;  and 
whenever,  in  later  life,  He  entered  the  synagogue  and  read 
from  the  Bible,  as  He  did  in  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth, 
He  read  the  Hebrew  text  only.  Though,  in  speaking  to 
the  people  in  popular  address,  He  always  quotes  the  Greek 
translation  because  it  was  the  one  read  and  best  known  by 
the  people,  yet  in  His  quotations  in  Greek  His  knowledge 
of  the  Hebrew  appears.  But  beyond  this  familiarity  with 
the  outward  form  of  the  Scriptures  He  shows  the  most  in- 
timate acquaintance  with  both  the  proximate  and  ultimate 
thought  of  all  its  parts ;  not  only  with  the  course  of  narra- 
tive, or  with  discourse  of  prophet,  or  song  of  the  enraptured 
psalmist,  but  with  the  grand  fundamental  thought  and  pur- 
pose which  bound  all  together.  He  had  read  that  collec- 
tion of  writings  so  deeply  that  He  saw  but  one  doctrine 
of  the  perfect  life  in  "  all  the  Law  and  Prophets  "  (Matt, 
vii.  12 ;  xxii.  40 ;  Luke  vi.  31),  one  succession  of  holy 
prophets,  from  the  righteous  Abel,  slain  by  a  brother's 
hand  in  the  gleaming  light  of  the  gate  of  Eden,  to  the 
prophet  slain  before  the  curtain  that  veiled  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  temple,  "  slain  between  the  temple  and  the  al- 
tar "  (Matt,  xxiii.  35 ;  Luke  xi.  51).  For  three  years  in 
the  thick  of  the  sharpest  dialectical  controversy  the  world 


248  JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

has  ever  known,  Jesus  is  never  found  at  fault  in  a  quota- 
tion, or  in  an  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. His  opponents  saw  in  Him  only  a  man ;  but  when 
they  tried  all  their  wisdom  and  ingenuity  to  entangle  Him 
in  the  most  intricate  webs  they  could  weave  of  Scripture 
difficulties,  His  simple  and  clear  answers  put  them  to  com- 
plete silence,  "  for  they  durst  not  any  more  ask  Him  any 
question  "  (Mark  xii.  34 ;  Luke  xx.  40).  He  taught  the 
meaning  of  the  Scriptures  "  as  having  authority  "  (Matt, 
vii.  29 ;  Mark  i.  22),  that  is,  the  authority  and  power  of 
the  Scriptures  themselves  were  concentrated  in  all  His 
words,  and  "  not  as  the  scribes,"  whose  knowledge  of  the 
words  was  accurate,  but  who  were  utterly  ignorant  of  the 
real  meaning  of  these  words  and  of  the  significance  of  the 
Scriptures  as  an  organic  whole. 

Now  we  say  that  if  ever  a  witness  was  qualified  by  the 
possession  of  the  highest  intellectual  gifts,  by  a  life  in 
which  no  flaw  has  ever  been  detected,  by  impregnable  hon- 
esty, by  integrity  of  principle,  thought,  speech,  life,  pur- 
pose, by  the  clearest  vision  of  all  ethical  truth  and  con- 
formity in  life  to  it,  by  the  most  transparent  disinterested- 
ness, by  study  and  learning — if  ever  a  witness  was  qualified 
to  give  true  testimony  on  all  subjects  connected  with  Him- 
self and  with  the  purpose  of  His  life,  then  Jesus  stands  out 
far  above  all  other  men  as  this  witness.  To  refuse  to  be- 
lieve Him,  after  having  all  the  proofs  of  His  character  be- 
fore us,  is  in  effect  to  deny  point-blank  that  there  is  suf- 
ficient evidence  to  prove  any  point  to  the  human  mind. 
To  deny  His  lofty  mental  powers  and  to  profess  to  revere 
His  ethical  teachings,  is  to  deny  the  sun  while  striving  to 
get  warmth  from  its  beams ;  to  deny  that  there  is  light 
while  we  walk  only  by  it.  And  it  is  fully  as  great  blind- 
ness in  friends  of  Jesus  to  seek  a  refuge  from  attack,  or  a 
shield  for  the  Shechinah  of  God,  in  denial  of  His  mental 
power  while  they  praise  His  life  and  teachings. 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  249 

Before  this  peerless  character,  this  witness  "  faithful  and 
true,"  the  soundest,  grandest  minds  of  the  centuries  have 
bowed  in  deepest  reverence,  and,  by  their  love  for  Him, 
have  shown  forth  a  life  bearing  some  semblance  to  His. 
The  leader  of  these  grand  minds  and  holy  lives,  the  Apostle 
Paul,  has,  with  his  eye  set  upon  Jesus,  given  us  an  extended 
description  of  prophecy  and  the  prophet  in  the  12th,  13th, 
and  14th  chapters  of  First  Corinthians.  Prophecy,  he  tells 
us,  was  the  immediate  effect  wrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
persons  specially  chosen  by  God  (1  Cor.  xii.  7,  11,  28,  29). 
The  outward  seal  of  the  prophecy,  spoken  by  God  through 
His  chosen  servant,  was  the  character  of  the  prophet ;  and 
the  celebrated  13th  chapter  of  1st  Corinthians  was  writ- 
ten as  a  delineation  of  the  character  of  the  true  prophet 
of  God.  He  should  be  a  man  of  humility  and  love,  not 
puffed  up  by  his  gift,  living  for  the  good  even  of  the  men 
who  most  opposed  him.  This  character  was  of  greater 
importance  to  the  prophet  personally  and  as  a  guarantee 
to  others,  than  the  gift  of  prophecy  (1  Cor.  xii.  31 ;  xiii. 
2,  8,  9 ;  xiv.  1 ;  Rom.  xii.  1-9 ;  Eph.  iv.  1-16). 

Jesus  was  this  character.  He  calls  Himself  a  prophet 
(Matt.  xiii.  57 ;  Mark  vi.  4 ;  Luke  iv.  24 ;  John  iv.  44 ; 
Luke  xi.  50 ;  xiii.  33,  34),  and  frequently  affirms  of  Him- 
self that  He  was  sent  by  God  to  teach  only  what  God 
taught  Him  to  say,  and  that  He  never  taught  anything 
else ;  that  He  had  not  come  to  do  His  own  will,  but  the 
will  of  Him  that  sent  Him,  and  this  will  He  always  per- 
formed. He  thus  affirms  His  own  inspiration,  as  He  also 
does  in  numerous  explicit  statements,  for  all  of  which  these 
clear  words  may  stand  as  the  example :  "  I  spake  not  from 
myself ;  but  the  Father  which  sent  me,  He  hath  given  me  a 
commandment,  what  I  should  say,  and  what  I  should  speak. 
And  I  know  that  His  commandment  is  life  eternal :  the 
things  therefore  which  I  speak,  even  as  the  Father  hath 
said  unto  ine,  so  I  speak  "  (John  xii.  48-50), 


250  JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

"We  might  stop  here  and  ask  if  the  witness  of  a  prophet 
thus  prepared  with  character  and  learning  to  attest  His  de- 
liverances would  not  be  sufficient  ?  But  by  the  witness  of 
this  very  prophet,  Jesus,  we  cannot  stop  here.  He  was 
not  only  the  single  perfect  man  this  world  has  seen  since 
the  visible  gate  of  Eden  was  closed,  but  He  was  far  more. 
The  elements  and  the  features  of  His  life  before  men 
were  perfectly  natural,  and  yet  a  world  in  sin  cries  out 
with  truth  that  so  perfect  a  character  must  be  super- 
natural ;  and  Jesus  agrees  here  with  the  world.  Listen  to 
this  honest  mind  and  heart  in  prayer  to  His  Father  at  the 
supreme  moment  of  His  life :  "  And  now,  O  Father, 
glorify  Thou  me  with  Thine  own  self  with  the  glory  which 
I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world  was."  "  For  Thou  lov- 
edst  me  before  the  foundation  of  the  world."  Again,  just 
as  He  ceases  prayer,  "  All  things  have  been  delivered 
unto  me  of  my  Father;  and  no  one  knoweth  the  Son, 
save  the  Father ;  neither  doth  any  know  the  Father,  save 
the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal 
Him."  Again  to  the  Jew,  in  whose  Scriptures  God  had 
revealed  Himself  as  the  Eternal  "  I  Am,"  and  who  bowed 
in  reverential,  though  superstitious  awe  with  mute  lips  be- 
fore the  very  letters  of  "  The  Name,"  and  to  whom  his 
forefather  Abraham  seemed  to  be  on  the  horizon  of  time, 
the  beginnings  of  the  grace  of  God — to  the  Jew,  Jesus 
most  solemnly  declared,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
Before  Abraham  was,  I  am.  They  took  up  stones  there- 
fore to  cast  at  Him";  but  Jesus  never  modified  the  asser- 
tion. Nay,  in  all  the  variety  of  change,  He  makes  the  same 
assertion,  and  crowns  all  with  the  clear  words  in  His  last 
discourse  with  His  disciples :  "  Ye  believe  in  God,  believe 
also  in  me."  "  If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  would  have  known 
ray  Father  also  :  from  henceforth  ye  know  Him  and  have 
seen  Him."  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." 
And  these  words  He  stamps,  with  all  the  guarantee  of  Hie 


JESUS    THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  251 

character  and  inspiration,  as  the  very  words  of  His  Father  in 
Him  ;  "  How  sayest  thou,  Show  us  the  Father  ?  Believest 
thou  not  that  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in  me  ?  the 
words  that  I  say  unto  you  I  speak  not  from  myself ;  but 
the  Father  abiding  in  me  doeth  His  works."  This  Jesus, 
the  Son  of  God,  "  the  effulgence  of  His  glory  and  the  very 
image  of  His  substance,  and  upholding  all  things  by  the 
word  of  His  power,"  gave  the  most  striking  illustration 

that  "  all  things  were  made  by  Him In  Him  was 

life ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men,"  when,  in  refer- 
ence to  that  first  creation  of  man  by  Jehovah  God,  who 
u  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  and  man  be- 
came a  living  soul,"  Jesus  "  breathed  on  His  disciples  and 
saith  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Before  this  perfect  character,  this  greatest,  lowliest  of 
all  ethical  teachers,  this  wondrous  complex  of  man  and 
God  over  all  blessed  forever,  we  bow  in  deepest  adoration, 
and  confess  with  Paul,  that  He  "  is  the  image  of  the  in- 
visible God,  the  first-born  of  all  creation;  for  in  Him 
were  all  things  created,  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth, 
things  visible  and  things  invisible,  whether  thrones  or  do- 
minions or  principalities  or  powers ;  all  things  have  been 
created  through  Him,  and  unto  Him ;  and  He  is  before 
all  things,  and  in  Him  all  things  consist."  Or,  with  John, 
we  say :  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word 
was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God."  "  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time ;  the  only-begotten  Son,  which  is 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared  Him." 

These  are  the  qualifications  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  the  faith- 
ful and  true  witness,"  for  testifying  upon  that  most  im- 
portant of  all  questions  for  sinful  man,  whom  He  came 
to  save  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself,  Where  shall  man  find 
God  speaking  to  him  the  words  of  eternal  life  ?  His  an- 
swer is  as  clear  as  day. 

The  whole  century,  in  part  of  which  Jesus  lived,  is 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

filled  by  the  testimony  of  two  most  competent  Jewish 
witnesses  to  the  Scriptures,  which  they  held  as  distinct 
from  all  other  books,  because  given  by  a  succession  of 
prophets  through  whom  God  spoke.  Their  Scriptures 
agree  with  our  present  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew,  barring 
the  mere  minutiae  of  criticism.  From  that  century  to 
this,  these  Old  Testament  Scriptures  have  come  to  us  by 
two  streams  of  transmission,  (during  fifteen  centuries  en- 
tirely dissociated  from  each  other,)  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian. So  that,  if  documentary  testimony  is  of  -any  worth, 
we  know  to  what  Jesus  referred  as  "The  Scripture," 
"The  Law,"  "The  Law  and  the  Prophets,"  "The  Law  of 
Moses  and  the  Prophets  and  the  Psalms";  it  was  the 
identical  collection  of  writings  which  we  possess  in  the 
Hebrew  Old  Testament. 

These  Scriptures  were,  alike  in  all  their  parts,  the  word 
of  God  to  Jesus.  He  mingles  together  the  most  diverse 
parts  as  equally  valid  history  and  proof.  Take  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  Matthew,  and  there  we  find,  1  Sam.  xxi.  3-6, 
Numb,  xxviii.  9,  10,  Lev.  xxiv.  5-9,  Hos.  vi.  6,  Jon.  ii.  1, 
iii.  1-10,  1  Kings  x.  1-10,  directly  quoted  as  all  equally 
true ;  or,  Matt,  xix.,  where  Jesus  quotes  Gen.  i.  27,  ii.  24, 
Ex.  xx.  13-16,  Lev.  xix.  18,  and  Deut.  xxiv.  1 — thus  run- 
ning the  whole  scale  of  the  Pentateuch,  (which  some 
learned  men  of  the  present  day  have  decided  is  not  the 
word  of  God) :  all  quoted  as  God's  words  ;  or,  Matt,  xv., 
where  Jesus  asserts  that  Ex.  xx.  12,  xxi.  17,  and  Isa.  xxix. 
13,  were  all  equally  the  word  of  God  ;  or,  Matt,  xxiii.  35, 
Luke  xi.  51,  where  He  spans  the  extreme  limits  of  the 
Hebrew  Bible,  by  quoting  Gen.  iv.  3-8,  and  2  Chron. 
xxiv.  18-22. 

Or,  consider  John  x.  34,  35,  where  Jesus  calls  the 
whole  Old  Testament  the  Law,  the  Word  of  God,  the 
Scripture.  "  Is  it  not  written  in  your  Law,  I  said,  Ye  are 
gods  \  If  He  called  them  gods  unto  whom  the  word  of 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  253 

God  came  (and  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken),"  etc. 
These  words,  written  in  their  "  Law,"  are  found  in  Ps. 
Ixxxii.  6,  a  Psalm  of  Asaph,  and  yet  Jesus  takes  out  those 
words,  from  what  some  now  suppose  to  be  an  insignifi- 
cant, post-exile  composition,  and  makes  them  a  touchstone 
for  the  whole  Scripture  which  He  declares  "cannot  be 
broken,"  the  word  of  the  omnipotent  God. 

This  collection  of  writings,  these  Scriptures,  were  to 
Jesus  an  organic  whole.  They  had  one  common  teaching 
of  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man ;  "  Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind."  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself.  On  these  two  commandments  hangeth  the 
whole  law  and  the  prophets "  (Matt.  xxii.  37-40 ;  Mark 
xii.  29-31).  "  All  things,  therefore,  whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you,  even  so  do  ye  also  unto 
them ;  for  this  is  the  Law  and  the  Prophets."  They  also 
had  one  common  supreme  testimony,  not  to  a  shadowy 
hope,  not  to  a  mere  human  postulate  of  faith,  but  to  a 
person,  the  Saviour,  who  should  live  and  die  and  rise  again 
for  the  salvation  of  man.  "  The  Scriptures  ....  these 
are  they  which  bear  witness  of  Me."  u  Moses  ....  wrote 
of  Me."  "  All  things  must  needs  be  fulfilled  which  are 
written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  the  prophets  and  the 

psalms,  concerning  Me And  He  said  unto  them, 

Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ  should  suffer,  and  rise 
again  from  the  dead  the  third  day ;  and  that  repentance 
and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  His  name 
unto  all  the  nations." 

Jesus  has  left  us  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  sense  in  which 
He  understood  the  word  of  God ;  all  these  Scriptures  had 
God  for  their  author :  John  v.  38 ;  x.  35 ;  Matt.  xv.  6 ; 
Mark  vii.  13.  Between  the  author  and  the  result,  the 
spoken  and  written  word  of  God,  there  was,  by  Jesus' 
teaching,  the  free,  perfect  co-operation  of  God's  chosen 


254  JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS. 

servants.  The  type  and  example  of  all  God's  speaking 
through  man,  and  so  conveying  the  very  words  God 
would  have  spoken  and  written,  is  Jesus  himself.  He 
was  the  perfect  Servant — not  a  mere  pen,  or  flute,  or  me- 
chanical intermediary — but  the  most  commanding  intel- 
lect of  all  the  ages,  at  home  in  the  solution  of  the  subtlest 
problems  of  man's  highest  good,  Himself  free  as  the  very 
mind  of  God,  and  yet  He  tells  us  many,  many  times  that 
He  spoke  only  what  God  commanded  Him  to  speak. 
"  My  teaching  is  not  mine,  but  His  that  sent  me."  "  The 
word  which  ye  hear  is  not  mine,  but  the  Father's  who 
sent  me."  "  I  spake  not  from  myself ;  but  the  Father, 
who  sent  me,  He  hath  given  me  a  commandment,  what  I 

should  say  and  what  I  should  speak The  things, 

therefore,  which  I  speak,  even  as  the  Father  hath  said 
unto  me,  so  I  speak."  And  in  the  solemn  rendering  of 
the  account  of  His  life  unto  His  Father  in  prayer,  He  re- 
curs to  this  most  free  and  happy  service,  "  These  things  I 
speak  in  the  world,  that  they  may  have  my  joy  fulfilled  ii\ 
themselves.  I  have  given  them  Thy  word." 

This  reiteration  of  His  own  inspiration  from  God  His 
Father,  which  covers  His  whole  life,  is  the  rule  by  which 
we  understand  what  Jesus  means  when  He  says,  it  "  was 
spoken  of  through  Daniel  the  prophet "  (Matt.  xxiv.  15) ; 
"  David  in  the  spirit  calleth  Him  Lord  ";  or  when  it  is  in- 
different to  Him  whether  He  says  "  Moses  said  "  or  "  God 
said,"  or  when  He  merely  quotes  by  the  formula  "  It  is 
written,"  which  takes  the  impress  of  His  meaning  from 
His  repetition  of  it  thrice  in  the  first  great  conflict  of  His 
life  with  Satan  in  the  desert  (Matt,  iv.,  Luke  iv.).  He 
rested  His  soul  with  absolute  confidence  on  the  written 
word  of  God  in  that  typical  contest  with  the  enemy  of  all 
souls,  as  He  rested  His  soul  on  that  word  amid  the  cyclone 
of  death  in  Gethsemane,  the  Prsetorium,  and  on  Calvary. 

Jesus  is  the  perfectly  qualified  witness  to  the  inspiration 


JESUS   THE  SUPREME    WITNESS.  255 

of  the  Bible,  as  He  is  also  the  perfect  example  of  convey- 
ing to  man  the  very  words  God  would  have  Him  speak. 
What  has  been  done  by  the  Head  of  the  Church  has  also 
been  done  by  members  of  the  Church  specially  chosen 
and  fitted  by  God  for  this  purpose. 

Are  we  Christians  ?  Jesus  has  left  us  His  test  of  His 
true  followers.  "  O  Father,  ....  I  manifested  Thy  name 
unto  the  men  whom  Thou  gavest  me  out  of  the  world : 
Thine  they  were,  and  Thou  gavest  them  to  me,  and  they 
have  kept  Thy  word.  Now  they  know  that  all  things 
whatsoever  Thou  hast  given  me  are  from  Thee :  for  the 
words  which  Thou  gavest  me  I  have  given  unto  them ; 
and  they  received  them,  and  knew  of  a  truth  that  I  came 
forth  from  Thee,  and  they  believed  that  Thou  didst  send 


THE  MOEAL  GLOKY  OF  JESUS  A  PROOF  OF 
INSPIRATION. 

W.     G.     MOOREHEAD,     D.D. 

THE  glories  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  threefold — 
essential,  official,  and  moral.  1.  His  essential  glory  is  that 
which  pertains  to  Him  as  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  co- 
equal with  the  Father,  Himself  God.  To  His  personal 
and  uncreated  glory,  Jesus  himself  refers  when  He  says : 
"  And  now,  O  Father,  glorify  Thou  me  with  Thine  own  self 
with  the  glory  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world 
was  "  (John  xvii.  5).  To  it  the  Spirit  bears  witness  when 
He  says  :  "  Who  is  the  effulgence  of  His  glory,  and  the 
very  image  of  His  person"  (Heb.  i.  3),  words  which 
suggested  the  phrase  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  "  Light  of 
Light." 

2.  His  official  glory  is  that  which  belongs  to  Him  as  the 
God-man,  the  Mediator.  It  is  the  reward  conferred  upon 
Him,  the  august  promotion  He  received  when  He  had 
brought  His  great  work  to  a  final,  satisfactory,  and  tri- 
umphant conclusion.  And  with  what  clusters  of  official 
dignities  is  the  Son  of  Man  now  invested.  All  power  in 
heaven  and  on  earth  is  given  Him  (Matt,  xxviii.  18); 
God  hath  highly  exalted  Him,  and  given  Him  a  name 
which  is  above  every  name  (Phil.  ii.  9) ;  He  is  crowned 
with  glory  and  honor  (Heb.  ii.  9).  Once  He  trod  this 
earth,  the  poor  Man,  despised  and  rejected,  His  face  cov- 
ered with  shame,  a  stranger  to  His  brethren,  an  alien  to 
His  mother's  children,  the  song  of  the  drunkard  (Ps.  Ixix. 
7,  8,  12  ;  Jno.  i.  10,  11).  Earth  once  cast  Him  out 
as  unfit  to  live  here.  But  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead, 
(256) 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  257 

and  set  Him  at  His  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly 
places,  far  above  all  principality  and  power  and  dominion 
and  might,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in 
this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come ;  and  hath  put 
all  things  under  His  feet,  and  gave  Him  to  be  head  over 
all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  His  body,  the  fullness  of 
Him  that  filleth  all  in  all  (Eph.  i.  20-23).  No  name  is 
surrounded  with  such  splendor,  or  commands  such  vener- 
ation as  His.  He  has  no  superior  and  no  rival.  No 
sphere,  however  high  or  distant,  is  exempted  from  His 
control :  no  creature,  however  mighty,  has  a  co-ordinate 
jurisdiction.  And  other  glories  await  Him  when  He 
shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,  and  to  be  admired 
in  all  them  that  believe  (2  Thess.  i.  10). 

3.  The  moral  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus  consists  of  the 
perfections  which  marked  His  entire  life  on  earth ;  per- 
fections which  attached  to  every  circumstance  in  which 
He  was  found,  to  every  relation  He  sustained  whether 
toward  God  or  man.  His  essential  and  official  glories 
were  commonly  hid  as  He  passed  on  through  His  earthly 
course.  He  did  not  walk  through  the  land  either  as  the 
Divine  Son  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  or  as  the  au- 
thoritative Son  of  David.  These  glories  He  veiled,  save 
where  faith  discovered  them,  or  occasion  demanded  their 
display.  But  His  moral  glory  could  not  be  hid  :  He 
could  not  be  less  than  perfect  in  everything :  it  belonged  to 
Him  :  it  was  Himself.  It  now  illumines  every  page  of  the 
evangelists,  as  once  it  did  every  path  He  trod  here  on  earth. 

This  moral  glory  of  Jesus,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  four 
Gospels,  we  are  to  contemplate — not  as  an  example  most 
worthy  of  our  imitation,  nor  to  call  forth  our  devout  ad- 
miration and  love,  nor  yet  as  an  evidence  of  Christianity, 
though  to  all  these  ends  it  is  most  admirably  fitted — but 
for  a  single  purpose,  viz.,  as  a  proof  of  the  inspiration  of 
the  Scriptures. 


258  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

In  this  discussion  the  Lord's  person  is  assumed — God 
and  man  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His  work  is  also  as- 
sumed— His  atoning  sacrifice  by  which  reconciliation  was 
effected,  and  which  is  now  preached  for  the  acceptance 
and  joy  of  faith. 

The  proposition  which  we  undertake  to  illustrate  and 
establish  is  this :  That  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
delineated  in  the  Gospels,  cannot  be  the  product  of  the 
unaided  human  mind. 

The  portrait  of  Him  which  the  authors  of  the  Gospels 
have  drawn  is  that  of  a  subject  too  majestic  and  too  sub- 
lime ever  to  have  been  idealized  by  uninspired  men.  He 
stands  before  us  arrayed  in  a  beauty  and  a  grandeur 
which  dwarf  "  the  starry  heavens  above  us,  and  the  moral 
law  within  us."  He  shines  forth  with  the  self-evidencing 
light  of  the  noonday  sun.  He  is  too  great,  too  pure,  too 
perfect,  to  have  been  invented  by  any  sinful  and  erring 
man  or  set  of  men.  His  moral  glories,  which  glow 
through  all  the  pages  of  the  Gospels  with  a  deathless  lus- 
tre, tell  us  of  the  presence  of  One  in  this  dark  and  tearful 
world  who  is  more  than  man  ;  and  they  tell  us,  also,  that 
the  pen  which  traced  them  was  an  inspired  pen.  We 
shall  have  occasion  to  verify  the  words  of  the  infidel 
Kousseau :  "  It  is  more  inconceivable  that  a  number  of 
persons  should  agree  to  write  such  a  history,  than  that 
one  should  furnish  the  subject  of  it.  The  Jewish  authors 
were  incapable  of  the  diction,  and  strangers  to  the  moral- 
ity, contained  in  the  Gospel.  The  marks  of  its  truth  are 
so  striking  and  inimitable,  that  the  inventor  would  be  a 
more  astonishing  character  than  the  hero."  Manifold  are 
the  external  proofs  in  favor  of  the  integrity  of  the  evan- 
gelistic narratives ;  but  greater  far  and  more  manifold 
are  the  internal  evidences  of  their  inspiration.  Jesus 
Christ  herein  portrayed  as  a  divinely  perfect  character  ; 
perfect  as  a  Child  and  as  a  Man;  perfect  in  all  His 


THE  MORAL  GLORY  OF  JESUS.  259 

ways,  and  words,  and  service ;  in  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
in  grace  and  holiness,  in  nearness  and  distance,  among 
friends  and  enemies,  in  life  and  death :  Jesus  Christ,  in 
all  that  He  was  while  sojourning  in  the  flesh,  and  in  all 
that  He  now  is  in  the  highest  heavens,  is  the  one  unfail- 
ing and  unanswerable  proof  that  the  Gospel  is  from  God, 
that  it  reveals  God. 

The  discussion  of  this  great  theme  falls  into  two  parts  : 
I.  A  brief  survey  of  Christ's  character,  as  disclosed  in  the 
Gospels.  II.  The  application  of  the  argument. 

("  The  character,"  and  "  The  moral  glory  of  Jesus," 
are  not  quite  convertible  terms.  We  consider  the  latter 
as  the  more  comprehensive ;  but  to  avoid  repetition  both 
are  used.) 

1.  The  moral  glory  of  Jesus  appears  in  His  develop- 
ment as  Son  of  Man.  The  nature  in  which  He  appeared 
among  men  was  our  nature  with  all  its  needs,  weaknesses, 
and  limitations,  sin  and  sinful  propensities  only  excepted. 
His  was  a  true  and  real  humanity.  As  man,  He  pos- 
sessed a  perfect  and  penetrating  community  of  nature 
with  the  lot  of  humankind.  He  displayed  a  genuine 
humanity  which  could  deem  nothing  human,  strange — 
which  must  pass  through  the  various  stages  of  growth 
like  any  other  member  of  the  race. 

It  has  been  said  of  the  Lord  that  "  His  manhood  was 
perfectly  natural  in  its  development."  The  words  of 
Luke  justify  the  statement:  "And  the  child  grew,  and 
waxed  strong  (in  spirit),  filled  with  wisdom :  and  the 
grace  of  God  was  upon  him  "  (Lu.  ii.  40,  52).  Man  is  not 
at  once  what  he  must  be,  but  becomes  so  by  slow  gra- 
dations :  and  He  who  in  His  matchless  grace  came  down 
into  all  the  circumstances  of  our  actual  humanity  volun- 
tarily subjected  Himself  to  the  same  laws  of  growth. 
From  infancy  to  youth,  from  youth  to  manhood,  there 
was  steady  increase  both  of  the  powers  of  His  human 


260  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

body,  and  the  faculties  of  His  human  soul :  but  the  prog- 
ress was  natural  and  orderly.  No  unhealthy  precocity 
marked  the  holiest  of  infancies.  His  wisdom  kept  pace 
with  His  age.  He  was  a  child  first,  and  afterward  a  man, 
not  a  man  in  child's  years.  His  wisdom,  wonderful  as  it 
must  have  been,  was  childlike  still,  growing  as  His  years 
grew,  and  deriving  its  increase  from  all  the  common 
sources  that  lay  open  to  it.  We  know  that  He  was  child- 
like as  other  children  :  for  in  after-years  His  brethren 
and  townsmen  thought  His  fame  strange.  They  could 
not  believe  that  One  who  had  gone  in  and  out  among 
them,  who  had  often  toiled  for  them,  and  whom  no  doubt 
they  had  often  seen  covered  with  the  dust  and  shavings 
of  His  trade  (Mark  vi.  3),  could  wield  such  marvellous 
powers  :  He  had  given  no  token  of  their  possession  during 
the  thirty  years  He  had  dwelt  at  Nazareth.  Artists  paint 
Him  as  a  child  in  His  mother's  arms,  His  brow  encircled 
with  a  halo  of  glory ;  but  in  point  of  fact  no  glory  shone 
around  that  holy  person.  "He  was  in  the  world,  and 
the  world  was  made  by  Him,  and  the  world  knew  Him 
not." 

As  the  Son  of  Man  He  is  represented  as  compassed 
about  with  all  the  sinless  infirmities  which  belong  to  our 
nature.  He  has  needs  common  to  us  all :  need  of  rest,  of 
food,  of  drink,  of  human  sympathy  and  Divine  assistance. 
That  He  may  escape  the  murderous  hate  of  Herod,  Jo- 
seph and  Mary  must  bear  Him  swiftly  and  secretly  into 
a  place  of  safety.  That  His  precious  life  may  not  be  en- 
dangered from  the  jealousies  of  the  reigning  dynasty,  He 
is  withdrawn  into  the  obscurity  of  Nazareth.  He  is  ha- 
bitually subject  to  His  parents ;  He  recognizes  the  au- 
thority of  the  State.  The  scattered  and  fainting  multi- 
tude melts  Him  to  compassion  ;  He  weeps  human  tears 
of  sorrow  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  and  over  the  impeni- 
tent city.  He  is  a  worshipper  in  the  Synagogue  and  the 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  261 

Temple  :  He  marvels  at  the  unbelief  of  men,  is  indignant 
at  their  captiousness.  He  expresses  His  dependence  on 
God  by  prayer,  and  loves  the  society  of  those  who  love 
Him. 

Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  the  significant  fact  that 
throughout  the  gospel  narratives  Jesus  is  presented  to  us 
as  a  true  man,  a  veritable  member  of  our  race.  But  we 
no  sooner  recognize  this  momentous  truth  than  we  are 
confronted  with  another  that  sets  these  records  alone  and 
unapproachable  in  the  field  of  literature.  This  second 
fact  is  this  :  At  every  stage  of  His  development,  in  every 
relation  of  life,  in  every  part  of  His  service,  He  is  abso- 
lutely perfect.  Whatever  He  is,  and  whatever  He  does, 
while  it  is  borne  and  done  in  a  purely  human  manner,  is 
nevertheless  altogether  superhuman.  While  His  love, 
His  pity,  His  sympathy,  His  grace,  are  genuinely  human, 
they  are  still  all  Divine.  His  human  development  is  free 
from  all  one-sidedness,  even  in  temperament  and  charac- 
ter ;  He  is  always  Himself  and  the  same,  because  He  is 
always  perfect.  To  no  part  of  His  life  does  a  mistake 
attach,  over  no  part  of  it  does  a  cloud  rest,  nowhere  in  it 
is  there  found  defect  or  perversion.  "  There  is  an  un- 
broken unity  in  His  life  and  endeavor,  which  stands  forth 
in  the  sharper  contrast  as  compared  with  the  conflict  and 
discord  around  Him."  Those  who  are  most  closely  re- 
lated to  Him — His  neighbors  and  kinsmen — fall  immeas- 
urably bulow  Him.  We  feel  as  we  read,  we  cannot  but 
feel,  that  the  people  of  Nazareth,  the  people  of  Galilee, 
nay,  the  very  best  in  Jerusalem  itself,  cannot  furnish  one 
solitary  person  whom  for  a  moment  we  dare  compare  with 
Him.  All  fade  away  in  His  presence,  even  as  the  stars 
fade  before  th^  majestic  splendors  of  the  sun.  The  dis- 
ciples are  full  of  prejudice  and  ignorance,  of  misappre- 
hensions and  errors,  and  He  must  constantly  correct  them. 
The  purest  and  most  austere  man  that  lived  on  earth  in 


262  rHE  MORAL  GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

that  day,  John  the  Baptist,  fails  in  the  time  of  trial. 
Even  the  mother,  herself,  though  she  "  pondered  "  things 
in  her  heart,  is  often  beset  with  clouds  and  doubt  and 
darkness,  and  He  must  correct  and  rebuke  her.  He 
knows  when  to  own  her  claims  as  she  makes  them  ;  when 
to  resist  them  though  she  makes  them  ;  when  to  recog- 
nize them  unsought.  "  He  trod  each  path  and  filled  each 
spot  in  that  mind  which  was  according  to  the  character 
He  bore  under  God's  eye." 

Thus  the  moral  glory  of  Jesus  shines  in  its  seasons ; 
and  the  same  glory  gets  other  seasonable  expressions  in 
other  features  of  His  life. 

2.  The  Gospels  do  not  only  assert  the  real  incorpora- 
tion of  the  Lord  Jesus  with  our  kind  :  they  do  much 
more  than  this.  They  exalt  Him  infinitely  above  us 
all  as  the  representative,  the  ideal,  the  pattern  man. 
They  clothe  Him  with  the  character,  the  attributes,  and 
the  distinctions  of  the  universal  Man,  the  One  whose  hu- 
man life  does  justice  to  the  most  exalted  idea  of  human- 
ity. 

Nothing,  in  the  judgment  of  historians,  stands  out  so 
sharply  distinct  as  race,  national  character — nothing  is 
more  ineffaceable.  The  Jew  was  marked  off  from  all 
mankind ;  he  still  is  to  this  day.  Wherever  he  wanders 
over  the  earth,  the  tell-tale  face  he  wears  proclaims  him 
the  descendant  of  Abraham.  The  Frenchman  differs 
widely  from  the  Englishman  and  the  Oriental,  the  Ger- 
man from  all  three.  Notwithstanding  our  boasted  cos- 
mopolitanism, we  Americans  are  fast  making  for  our- 
selves a  national  type  which  distinguishes  us  from  other 
peoples.  The  very  greatest  men  are  unable  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  influences  in  the  midst  of  which  they 
have  been  reared  and  educated.  Peculiarities  of  race  and 
the  spirit  of  the  age  leave  in  their  characters  traces  which 
are  imperishable.  To  the  last  fibre  of  his  being,  Luther 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  263 

was  German,  Calvin  was  French,  Knox  was  Scotch. 
Augustine  bears  the  unmistakable  impress  of  the  Roman, 
and  Chrysostom  is  as  certainly  Greek.  Even  Paul,  with 
his  large-heartedness,  his  wonderful  affection  for  every 
class  and  condition  of  men.  is  nevertheless  a  Jew,  always 
a  Jew.  As  with  men,  so  with  the  great  religious  books 
of  the  world.  Each  is  tinged  with  a  local  coloring,  each 
moves  within  a  narrow  circle  of  thought,  and  is  accord- 
ingly limited  in  its  influence.  The  sacred  books  of  Per- 
sia and  of  India  have  never  had  other  than  a  local  re- 
ception. Even  the  Koran  could  never  attain  a  permanent 
hold  on  the  n  itions  of  the  West.  Of  universal  religious 
books  there  is  but  one — the  Bible.  It  alone  finds  a  wel- 
come among  nations  of  every  region  and  of  the  most  di- 
verse habits  of  life  and  thought,  because  it  is  the  word  of 
God,  and  therefore  speaks  to  the  universal  heart  of  man. 

As  the  Bible  stands  alone  among  the  books  of  the 
world,  so  the  Author  of  Christianity  occupies  a  pre- 
eminent place  among  the  children  of  men.  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  only  One  who  is  justly  entitled  to  be  called  the 
Catholic  Man.  Although  He  was  born  and  reared  in 
the  inidst  of  the  most  exclusive  people  on  earth,  nothing 
local,  transient,  individualizing,  national,  or  sectarian 
dwarfs  the  proportions  of  His  world-embracing  charac- 
ter. "  He  rises  above  the  parentage,  the  blood,  the  nar- 
row horizon  which  bounded,  as  it  seemed,  His  Human 
Life ;  He  is  the  Archetypal  Man  in  whose  presence  dis- 
tinctions of  race,  intervals  of  ages,  types  of  civilization, 
degrees  of  mental  culture  are  as  nothing  "  (Liddon).  In 
Him  there  is  no  national  peculiarity,  no  individual  idio- 
syncrasy. The  comprehensiveness  of  His  manhood  is 
such  that  no  age  or  nation  can  claim  Him  as  its  own  : 
He  belongs  to  ail  ages,  is  related  to  all  men,  whether  they 
shiver  amid  the  snows  of  the  Arctic  Circle,  or  pant  beneath 
the  burning  heat  of  the  Equator ;  for  He  is  the  Son  of 


264  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

Man,  the  Son  of  mankind,  the  genuine  offspring  of  the 
race. 

Yan  Oosterzee  thinks  that  a  deep  seriousness  underlies 
the  jest  of  the  heathen  philosopher  when  he  kindled  his 
lantern  at  midday  in  order  to  seek  for  men.  "  Poor  Diog- 
enes !  men,  that  fully  deserve  this  name,  you  could  not 
find  around  you ;  because  the  perfect  Man,  the  Restorer 
of  our  race,  had  not  yet  appeared  upon  earth."  The  idea! 
of  the  true  Sage,  as  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  depicted 
him,  was  as  little  perfect  as  attainable.  One  sought  for 
him  in  the  contempt  and  scorn  of  the  world,  and  in  the 
stern  repression  of  the  voices  of  nature  within  him ;  an- 
other, in  sensual  enjoyment  and  unbridled  license.  Soc- 
rates united  traces  of  moral  greatness  with  the  most  mel- 
ancholy littleness :  and  Plato  looked  in  vain  for  the  com- 
ing of  a  perfectly  wise  and  righteous  one. 

At  length  He  appears  who  is  the  desire  of  all  nations, 
in  whom  all  nations  find  their  ideal  and  their  Redeemer. 
Although  born  in  Judea,  He  is  not  a  Jew ;  born  in  Asia, 
He  is  not  an  Oriental ;  much  less  is  He  a  Greek,  and  still 
less  a  Roman.  He  is  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Friend  and 
Brother  of  all  men ;  like  the  first  man  Adam,  but  more 
than  he ;  for  He  is  also  the  Son  of  God.  Higher  than  the 
highest,  His  infinite  tenderness  and  pity  flow  out  to  the 
lowliest  and  the  most  abandoned.  He  is  no  poet,  and  yet 
a  world  of  poesy  slumbers  in  His  matchless  parables  :  no 
philosopher,  yet  wisdom  discloses  her  divinest  oracles  by 
His  lips :  no  conqueror,  yet  He  wins  the  most  stupendous 
victory  the  world  has  ever  seen  or  will  see.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  with  another,  "  that  as  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  dwelleth  in  Him,  so  we  may  add,  in  Him  dwell- 
eth  all  the  fullness  of  humanity  bodily." 

3.  His  moral  glory  appears  in  His  unselfishness  and 
personal  dignity. 

The  entire  absence  of  selfishness  in  any  form  from  the 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  265 

character  of  Jesus  is  another  remarkable  feature  in  the 
Gospel  narratives.  He  had  frequent  and  fair  opportuni 
ties  of  gratifying  ambition  had  His  nature  been  tainted 
with  that  passion.  But  "even  Christ  pleased  not  Him- 
self": He  sought  not  "  His  own  glory  ":  He  came  not  "  to 
do  His  own  will."  His  body  and  His  soul,  with  all  the 
faculties,  the  activities,  the  latent  powers  of  each,  were 
abandoned  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  His  peo- 
ple. His  self-sacrifice  included  the  whole  range  of  His 
human  thought  and  affection  and  action  :  it  lasted  through- 
out His  life :  its  highest  expression  was  His  death  on  the 
cross. 

This  complete  renunciation  of  all  that  has  no  object  be- 
yond self  on  the  part  of  Jesus  touches  every  relation  of 
His  human  life — everything,  in  short,  that  men  hold  dear : 
it  extends  to  His  relatives,  His  home,  His  pleasure,  His 
reputation,  His  repose.  Dear  to  Him  is  the  solitude  in 
which  He  can  hold  undisturbed  communion  with  the 
Father ;  but  no  sooner  do  the  disciples  announce  to  Hirn 
that  the  multitude  seek  Him,  than  He  is  moved  with  com- 
passion toward  them,  without  the  slightest  trace  of  vexa- 
tion at  the  interruption.  When  from  His  nocturnal  sanc- 
tuary He  beholds  the  distress  of  His  followers  upon  the 
stormy  waves,  He  quits  it  at  once  to  hasten  to  their  re- 
lief. Welcome  to  Him  is  the  refreshment  prepared  for 
Him  by  love  and  friendship :  but  this  sweet  luxury  of  life 
He  allows  Himself  only  at  those  rare  moments  when  no 
higher  duty  makes  demand  upon  Him.  He  imposes  on 
Himself,  as  has  been  truly  said,  greater  toil  and  more 
steadfast  self-restraint,  when  the  things  which  men  most 
prize,  and  for  which  they  most  eagerly  long,  are  pressed 
upon  Him  by  the  admiring  and  enthusiastic  multitudes. 
Whether  He  labors  or  reposes,  whether  He  suffers  or  en- 
joys, speaks  or  is  silent,  grants  or  refuses,  comes  or  remains 
away — always  and  everywhere  He  is  the  obedient  One. 


266  THE  MORAL   GLOR  Y  OF  JESUS. 

The  strange  beauty  of  His  unselfishness  is  that  it  never 
seeks  to  draw  attention  to  itself:  it  deprecates  publicity  : 
it  loves  to  disclose  itself  to  the  eye  of  God  alone,  and  to 
those  who  can  understand  and  appreciate  it.  He  seems, 
in  His  unselfish  humility,  as  one  naturally  contented  with 
obscurity;  as  wanting  the  restless  desire  for  eminence 
which  is  so  common  in  really  great  men ;  as  disliking 
competition  and  disputes  as  to  who  should  be  greatest ; 
as  eager  and  careful  that  even  His  miracles  should  not  add 
to  His  reputation. 

But  amid  all  His  self-sacrificing  humility,  He  never 
loses  His  personal  dignity,  and  the  noble  self-respect 
which  becomes  Him.  He  would  receive  ministry  from 
some  godly  women  out  of  their  substance,  and  yet  minis- 
ter to  the  need  of  all  around  Him  out  of  the  treasures  of 
the  earth.  He  would  feed  thousands  in  the  desert  places, 
and  yet  Himself  be  an  hungered,  waiting  for  the  return 
of  the  disciples  from  a  neighboring  village.  But  while 
thus  poor,  needy,  and  exposed,  nothing  that  in  the  least 
savored  of  personal  degradation  or  the  loss  of  self-respect 
is  ever  seen  attaching  to  His  condition.  He  never  begs 
though  He  have  not  a  penny  ;  for  when  He  wanted  to  see 
one  (not  to  use  it  for  Himself)  He  must  ask  to  be  shown 
it.  He  may  request  a  cup  of  water  at  the  well  of  Sychar, 
but  it  is  that  He  may  save  a  soul.  He  never  flies  from 
enemies,  though,  as  we  speak,  His  life  be  in  jeopardy. 
He  withdraws  Himself,  or  passes  by  unseen.  He  never 
takes  advantage  of  the  violence  of  factions  or  the  strife  of 
rival  schools  to  protect  Himself  from  the  fury  of  the  mob. 
He  is  always  calm,  serene.  He  seems  to  care  little  for 
Himself,  but  everything  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  the 
Father.  If  it  be  defilement  of  His  Father's  house,  He 
will  let  zeal  consume  Him  :  if  it  be  His  own  wrongs  at 

O 

the  hands  of  Samaritan  villagers,  He  will  suffer  it,  and 
pass  on.     If  multitudes,  eager  and  expectant,  press  upon 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  267 

Him,  shouting  "  Hosanna,"  He  is  not  elated ;  if  all  fall 
away,  stunned  by  His  words  of  power,  He  is  not  cast 
down.  For  He  sought  not  a  place  among  men  ;  quickly 
veiled  His  glory,  that  He  might  be  the  Servant — the 
girded,  not  the  arrayed  One. 

And  yet  through  all  His  amazing  humility  and  self-re- 
nunciation, there  glances  ever  and  anon  something  of  the 
majesty  and  supreme  dignity  which  belong  to  Him  alone 
who  is  over  all  God  blessed  forever.  The  beautiful  words 
of  a  great  theologian  who  not  long  ago  passed  away  from 
earth  are  profoundly  true:  "It  is  the  same  King's  Son 
who  to-day  dwells  in  the  palace  of  His  Father,  and  to- 
morrow, out  of  love  to  rebellious  subjects5  in  a  remote 
corner  of  the  kingdom,  renouncing  His  princely  glory, 
comes  to  dwell  amongst  them  in  the  form  of  a  servant — 
limiting  of  His  own  free  will  the  prerogatives  of  His 
original  rank,  which  He  has  never  laid  aside — and  is 
known  only  by  the  dignity  of  His  look,  and  the  star  of 
royalty  on  His  breast,  when  the  mean  cloak  is  opened  for 
a  moment,  apparently  by  accident !  "  (Van  Oosterzee). 

4.  The  moral  glory  of  Jesus  is  exhibited  by  His  superi- 
ority to  human  judgment  and  intercession. 

When  challenged  by  the  disciples  or  by  enemies,  as  the 
Lord  often  was,  He  never  apologizes,  never  excuses  Him- 
self. On  one  occasion  the  disciples  complain,  "Master, 
carest  Thou  not  that  we  perish  ? "  But  He  does  not  think 
of  vindicating  the  sleep  out  of  which  the  summons  awakes 
Him,  as  one  of  ourselves  would  assuredly  have  done.  On 
another,  Martha  and  Mary  say  each  in  turn  to  Him, 
"  Lord,  if  Thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had  not  died." 
There  is  not  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  the  world  over  who 
would  not  in  similar  circumstances  explain  or  try  to  ex- 
plain why  he  could  not  at  once  repair  to  the  house  of 
mourning  when  summoned  thither.  But  Jesus  does  not 
excuse  His  not  having  been  there,  nor  His  delay  of  two 


268  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

days  in  the  place  where  He  was.  In  the  consciousness  of 
the  perfect  righteousness  of  His  ways  He  simply  says, 
"  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again."  Peter  takes  it  upon  him 
to  admonish  Him  :  "  This  be  far  from  Thee,  Lord ;  this 
shall  not  be  unto  Thee."  But  Peter  has  to  learn  that  it 
is  Satan  who  had  prompted  the  admonition.  The  officer 
in  the  palace  of  the  high-priest  would  correct  Him,  smit- 
ing Him  on  the  cheek.  But  he  is  convicted  of  breaking 
the  rules  of  judgment  in  the  very  place  and  face  of  judg- 
ment. The  mother  rebukes  Him,  when,  after  three  days' 
search,  she  finds  Him  in  the  Temple  ;  but  instead  of  mak- 
ing good  her  charge,  she  has  to  listen  to  Him  convicting 
the  darkness  and  error  of  her  thoughts. 

And  thus  it  is  on  every  occasion :  whether  challenged, 
or  admonished,  or  rebuked,  Jesus  never  recalls  a  word 
nor  retraces  a  step.  Every  tongue  that  rises  in  judgment 
against  Him,  He  condemns. 

JNor  does  He  recall  a  word  when  the  Jews  rightly  in- 
ferred from  His  language  that  "  He  being  a  man,  made 
Himself  equal  with  God."  He  pointed  out  the  application 
of  the  name  Elohim  to  judges  under  the  Theocracy,  and 
yet  irresistibly  implies  that  His  title  to  the  name  is  higher 
than,  and  distinct  in  kind  from,  that  of  the  Jewish  mag- 
istrates. He  thus  arrives  a  second  time  at  the  assertion 
which  had  given  so  great  offence.  The  Jews  understood 
Him.  He  did  not  retract  what  they  accounted  blasphemy, 
and  they  again  sought  His  life.  He  is  never  mistaken, 
and  never  at  fault. 

So,  likewise,  He  is  superior  to  human  intercession.  In 
Gethsemane  He  asked  the  disciples  to  watch  with  Him ; 
He  did  not  ask  them  to  pray  for  Him.  He  could  claim 
human  sympathy:  He  prized  it  in  the  hour  of  weakness 
and  sorrow  ;  and  this  is  no  small  proof  of  the  human  per- 
fection that  was  His.  But  while  He  felt  this  and  did  this, 
He  could  not  ask  them  to  stand  in  the  Divine  Presence 


THE  MORAL  GLORY  OF  JESUS.  269 

as  in  His  behalf.  He  would  have  them  give  themselves 
to  Him,  but  He  could  not  ask  them  to  give  themselves  to 
God  for  Him.  Paul  writes  to  his  fellow-saints,  "  Brethren, 
pray  for  us";  upray  for  me."  But  such  was  never  the 
language  of  Jesus.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  He  never 
places  His  people  on  a  level  with  Himself  in  His  inter- 
cessions. He  maintains  the  distance  of  His  own  proper 
dignity  and  exalted  relations  with  the  Father  between 
Himself  and  them.  He  never  uses  plural  personal  pro- 
nouns in  His  prayers.  He  always  says,  "  I,"  and  "  me," 
and  "  these  "  and  "  them  "  that  "  thou  hast  given  me  "; 
never  "  we  "  and  "  us,"  as  we  speak  in  our  petitions.  He 
is  solitary,  unique,  the  heavenly  Stranger  in  the  world. 

5.  The  sinlessness  of  Jesus  witnesses  to  His  moral 
glory. 

The  Gospel  narratives  record  that  during  His  earthly 
manifestation,  from  beginning  to  end,  He  preserved  Him- 
self absolutely  pure  and  free  from  all  sins.  No  more  can 
be  done  now  than  to  name  the  witnesses,  and  the  general 
tenor  of  their  evidence. 

We  have  the  testimony  of  His  enemies.  For  three 
long  years  the  Pharisees  were  watching  their  victim.  As 
another  writes,  "  There  was  the  Pharisee  mingling  in  every 
crowd,  hiding  behind  every  tree.  They  examined  His 
disciples :  they  cross-questioned  all  around  Him.  They 
looked  into  His  ministerial  life,  into  His  domestic  privacy, 
into  His  hours  of  retirement.  They  came  forward  with 
the  sole  accusation  they  could  muster,  that  He  had  shown 
disrespect  to  Csesar.  The  Roman  judge,  who  ought  to 
know,  pronounced  it  void."  There  was  another  spy — 
Judas.  Had  there  been  one  act  of  sin,  one  failure  in  all 
the  Redeemer's  career,  in  His  hour  of  awful  agony  Judas 
would  have  remembered  it  for  his  comfort ;  but  the  bit- 
terness of  his  despair,  that  which  made  his  life  insuffer- 
able, was  that  he  had  "  betrayed  the  innocent  blood." 


270  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

There  is  the  testimony  of  His  friends.  His  disciples 
tell  us  that  during  their  intercourse  with  Him  His  life 
was  unsullied.  Had  there  been  a  single  blemish,  they 
would  have  detected  it,  and,  honest  historians  as  they 
were,  they  would  have  recorded  it. 

Nor  is  His  own  testimony  to  be  overlooked.  Jesus  never 
once  confesses  sin.  He  never  once  asks  for  pardon.  Yet 
is  it  not  He  who  so  sharply  rebukes  the  self-righteous- 
ness of  the  Pharisees  ?  Does  He  not  seem  to  ignore  all 
human  piety  that  is  not  based  upon  a  broken  heart  ?  But 
yet  He  never  lets  fall  a  hint,  He  never  breathes  a  prayer 
which  implies  any,  the  slightest  trace  of  personal  blame- 
worthiness.  Never  does  He  associate  Himself  with  any 
passing  experience  of  that  dread  of  the  penal  future  with 
which  His  own  solemn  words  must  needs  fill  the  sinner's 
heart.  If  He  urge  sorrow  and  tears  upon  others,  it  is 
for  their  sins:  if  Himself  sorrow  and  groan  in  agony,  it 
is  not  for  sins  of  His  own,  it  is  for  others'.  He  challenges 
His  enemies  to  convince  Him  of  sin.  Not  only  has  He 
done  no  evil,  but  the  good  in  Him  is  so  pure  and  holy 
that  the  hatred  of  His  foes  is  all  the  more  inexcusable 
and  criminal.  "  They  hated  me  without  a  cause,"  He 
could  say  at  the  end  of  His  life. 

Nor  is  this  all.  "  The  soul,"  it  has  been  said,  "  like 
the  body,  has  its  pores  ";  and  the  pores  are  always  open. 
"  Instinctively,  unconsciously,  and  whether  a  man  will  or 
not,"  says  Canon  Liddon,  "the  insignificance  or  the 
greatness  of  the  inner  life  always  reveals  itself."  From 
its  very  centre  and  essence  the  moral  nature  is  ever 
throwing  out  about  itself  circles  of  influence  ;  encompasses 
itself  with  an  atmosphere  which  discloses  the  inner  life. 
In  Jesus  this  self-revelation  was  not  involuntary,  or  acci- 
dental, or  forced :  it  was  in  the  highest  degree  deliberate. 

He  surrounds  Himself  with  an  air  of  superior  holiness 
and  moral  elevation  of  being  that  still  lingers  in  the  world, 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  2T1 

and  that  is  encountered  in  every  page  of  the  Gospels; 
and  yet  He  is  felt  to  be  the  most  gracious  and  accessible 
of  men.  We  observe  in  His  ways  a  tenderness  never 
seen  in  mere  men,  yet  we  instinctively  feel  that  He  is  a 
Stranger :  a  Stranger  so  far  as  revolted  man  was  filling 
the  scene,  but  intimately  near  so  far  as  misery  and  need 
demanded  Him.  The  distance  He  took  and  the  intimacy 
He  expressed  were  perfect.  He  did  more  than  look  upon 
the  misery  that  was  around  Him  :  He  entered  into  it  with 
a  sympathy  which  was  all  His  own ;  and  He  did  more 
than  refuse  the  pollution  that  was  around  Him  :  He  kept 
the  very  distance  of  holiness  itself  from  every  touch  and 
stain  of  it.  He  is  near  in  our  weariness,  our  hunger,  our 
danger.  He  is  apart  from  our  tempers,  our  selfishness, 
and  our  sin.  "  His  holiness  made  Him  an  utter  stranger 
in  such  a  polluted  world ;  His  grace  kept  Him  ever  active 
in  such  a  needy  and  afflicted  world."  He  was  like  a  ray 
of  light,  which,  corning  from  the  fountain  of  light,  can 
pass  through  the  most  defiling  medium  and  still  be  un- 
tainted and  unstained.  Such  was  the  mystery  of  His 
person,  such  the  perfection  of  His  manhood,  that  the 
temptation  in  Him  was  as  real  as  was  the  undefilableness. 

He  had  God's  relation  to  sin.  He  knew  evil,  but  was 
in  divine  supremacy  over  it — knowing  it  even  as  God 
knows  it.  But  yet  His  perfect  knowledge  of  man  in  all 
his  wickedness  detracts  nothing  from  His  matchless  com- 
passion for  sinners.  His  pity  goes  forth  as  freely  to  the 
publican,  the  harlot,  the  demoniac,  the  thief,  as  to  the 
most  exemplary  among  men.  His  life  on  earth  is  one 
stately  hymn,  which  ceaselessly  rises  heavenward,  and 
runs  through  all  the  scales,  without  being  interrupted  by 
a  single  jarring  note. 

6.  The  exquisite  assemblage  and  correlation  of  virtues 
and  excellences  in  the  character  of  Christ  form  another 
very  remarkable  feature  of  the  Gospel  narratives. 


272  1HE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

There  have  been  those  who  have  displayed  distin- 
guished traits  of  character ;  those  who,  by  reason  of  spe- 
cial endowments  and  extraordinary  gifts,  have  risen  to 
heights  which  to  the  mass  of  men  are  inaccessible.  But 
among  the  mightiest  of  the  sons  of  men,  which  one  has 
shown  himself  to  be  evenly  balanced  and  rightly  poised 
in  all  his  faculties  and  powers,  so  that  he  maintains  his 
equilibrium  under  every  condition  of  life  ?  In  the  very 
best  and  greatect,  inequality  and  disproportion  are  en- 
countered. Generally  the  failings  and  vices  of  men  are 
in  the  ratio  of  their  virtues  and  powers.  The  tallest  bod- 
ies cast  the  longest  shadows.  In  Jesus  Christ  there  is  no 
unevenness.  There  is  in  Him  no  preponderance  of  tho 
imagination  over  the  feeling,  of  the  intellect  over  the 
imagination,  of  the  will  over  the  intellect.  There  is  in 
Him  an  uninterrupted  harmony  of  all  the  powers  of  body 
and  soul,  in  which  that  serves  which  ought  to  serve,  and 
that  rules  which  ought  to  rule,  and  all  work  together  to 
one  adorable  end.  In  Him  every  grace  is  in  its  perfect- 
ness;  none  in  excess,  none  out  of  place,  none  wanting. 
In  Him  justice  never  suffers  from  the  exercise  of  the 
most  amazing  mercy,  truth  is  never  overshadowed  by 
His  peerless  love,  and  the  freest  pardon  never  for  an  in- 
stant clouds  His  holiness.  In  Him  firmness  never  degen- 
erates into  obstinacy,  or  calmness  into  stoical  indifference. 
His  gentleness  never  becomes  weakness,  or  His  elevation 
of  soul,  forgetfulness  of  others.  In  His  best  and  most  be- 
loved servants,  virtues  and  graces  are  uneven,  and  often 
clash  and  jostle  with  each  other.  In  their  very  attempts 
to  live  and  die  for  Him  who  loves  them,  they  only  show 
how  unlike  Him  they  are,  how  far  below  Him  they  fall. 

Moreover,  the  account  of  Jesus'  life  on  earth  becomes 
all  the  more  unapproachable  and  unique  when  it  is  ob- 
served that  it  is  made  up  of  a  union  of  excellences  which 
seem  at  first  sight  irreconcilable,  but  which,  when 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  273 

blended  and  duly  proportioned,  constitute  moral  'har- 
mony of  the  sublirnest  kind.  One  who  did  not  receive 
the  testimony  of  Scripture  as  do  we,  clearly  saw  this  fea- 
ture in  Him,  and  spoke  of  it  in  words  we  may  use  :  "  He 
joined  strong  feeling  and  self-possession  ;  an  indignant 
sensibility  to  sin,  and  compassion  for  the  sinner ;  an  in- 
tense devotion  to  His  work,  and  calmness  under  opposi- 
tion and  ill-success ;  a  universal  philanthropy,  and  a  sus- 
ceptibility of  private  attachments ;  the  authority  which 
became  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  the  tenderness  arid 
gratitude  of  a  son  "  (Channing).  His  immovable  equa- 
nimity is  such  that  He  is  just  as  little  elated  when  He  is 
above  measure  extolled,  as  disappointed  when  He  is  with- 
out cause  humiliated.  In  Him  one  day's  walk  never  con- 
tradicts another,  one  hour's  service  never  clashes  with 
another.  While  conscious  that  He  is  from  God  and  will 
soon  return  to  God,  His  unfeigned  sympathy  makes  Him 
accessible  to  all.  While  He  shows  He  is  master  of  na- 
ture's tremendous  forces  and  the  Lord  of  the  unseen 
world,  He  turns  aside  and  lays  His  glory  by  to  take  lit- 
tle children  in  His  arms  and  to  bless  them.  While  every- 
where He  must  endure  the  contradiction  of  sinners,  must 
walk  amid  the  snares  His  foes  have  privily  spread  for  His 
feet,  He  is  always  equal  to  every  occasion  ;  is  in  harmony 
with  the  requirements  of  every  moment.  He  never  speaks 
where  it  would  be  better  to  keep  silence ;  never  keeps  si- 
lence where  it  would  be  better  to  speak  ;  but  ever  leaves 
the  arena  of  controversy  a  conqueror  1 

Bred  a  Jewish  carpenter,  He  issues  from  obscurity  and 
claims  for  Himself  a  divine  office,  a  superhuman  dignity, 
such  as  had  never  been  imagined,  and  in  no  instance  does 
He  fall  below  the  character.  He  talks  of  His  glories  as 
one  to  whom  they  are  familiar,  and  of  His  intimacy  and 
oneness  with  God,  as  simply  as  a  child  speaks  of  his  con- 
nection with  his  parents.  He  speaks  of  saving  the  world, 


274  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

of  drawing  all  men  to  Himself,  and  of  giving  everlasting 
life,  as  we  speak  of  the  ordinary  powers  which  we  exert. 
This  unaffected  majesty,  so  wonderfully  depicted  in  the 
Gospels,  runs  through  His  whole  life,  and  is  as  discerni- 
ble in  the  midst  of  scorn  and  poverty,  in  Gethsemane  and 
at  Calvary,  as  on  tlie  mount  of  Transfiguration  and  the 
triumphant  resurrection  from  the  dead. 

Y.  We  observe,  lastly,  that  the  moral  glory  of  Jesus,  as 
it  is  delineated  in  the  Gospels,  exerts  a  boundless  influ- 
ence upon  the  world. 

Unbelief  has  been  compelled  to  confess  that  "  all  the 
philosophers  have  had  no  perceptible  influence  on  the 
morals  of  the  street  in  which  they  lived  ;  but  Jesus  Christ 
has  new-created  the  world."  This  witness  is  true.  What 
moral  power  do  the  ancient  philosophies  now  wield  among 
men  ?  When  the  awful  conviction  takes  hold  on  a  man 
that  he  must  face  God  about  his  sins,  will  he  turn  to  these 
for  relief  and  help  ?  Who  cares  what  Plato  or  Seneca, 
Socrates  or  Epictetus,  thought  and  taught  ?  We  read  into 
them,  if  we  read  at  all,  with  a  feeling  akin  to  that  which 
prompts  us  to  inspect  a  museum  of  antiquities.  Some- 
how the  memorials  of  the  Lord  Jesus  contained  in  the 
Gospels  are  ever  young  and  fresh.  Somehow,  like  their 
exalted  Subject,  they  retain  the  dew  of  their  youth. 
Somehow  they  yield  as  profound  instruction,  as  pure  joy, 
as  holy  and  transforming  power  now  as  when  they  were 
first  sent  fo  th  into  the  world.  Let  us  hear  the  opinion 
of  one  who  was  neither  a  pietist  nor  weak-minded — Na- 
poleon Bonaparte.  "  The  Gospel  possesses  a  secret  virtue, 
a  mysterious  efficacy,  a  warmth,  which  penetrates  and 

soothes  the  heart The  Gospel  is  not  a  book ;  it  is 

living  being,  with  a  vigor,  a  power  which  conquers  every- 
thing that  opposes."  Let  us  hear  the  verdht  of  history,  as  it 
is  bummed  up  by  Mr.  Lecky :  "The  brief  record  of  three 
short  years  of  active  life  has  done  more  to  soften  and  re- 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  275 

generate  mankind  than  all  the  disquisitions  of  philoso- 
phers, and  than  all  the  exhortations  of  moralists."  The 
European,  the  Asiatic,  the  African,  the  aboriginal  Amer- 
ican, even  Darwin's  Patagonian  savage,  have  alike  con- 
fessed its  power.  This  brief  record  has  surmounted  all 
the  peculiarities  of  race  and  temperament.  Men  of  the 
greatest  minds  have  bowed  to  it ;  men  of  the  greatest 
moral  elevation  have  been  raised  still  higher  by  its  influ- 
ence. It  has  raised  up  "the  poor  out  of  the  dust,  and 
lifted  up  the  beggar  from  the  dung-hill,  to  set  them 
among  princes,  and  to  make  them  inherit  the  throne  of 
glory  "  (1  Sam.  ii.  8). 

What  is  the  secret  of  this  power,  this  perennial  vigor, 
which  the  Gospels  possess?  The  answer  to  the  inquiry  is 
not  difficult — Christ  is  in  them,  reveals  Himself  through 
them.  It  is  He  whose  perfect  character  and  whose  fault- 
less life  are  here  recorded,  who  gives  these  incomparable 
narratives  all  their  potency  and  all  their  charm.  In  the 
four  Gospels  One  is  presented  to  us  who  transcends  the 
actual  Christianity  of  every  age.  No  branch  of  the 
Church,  nor  all  the  branches  combined ;  not  the  whole 
body  of  believers,  even  when  they  have  most  of  His  mind 
and  Spirit,  can  approximate  Him.  Some  rays  of  His 
glory  they  may  reflect,  but  not  Himself.  The  Scriptures 
alone  do  that.  And  the  effect  of  the  unveiling  of  His 
person,  just  as  He  is  depicted  by  the  Evangelists,  ever 
has  been  and  ever  will  be  the  source  of  a  renewal  of  vi- 
tality to  the  Church,  and  of  turning  multitudes  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  God. 

Such  are  some  of  the  beams  of  Christ's  moral  glory  as 
they  shine  everywhere  on  the  pages  of  the  four  Gospels. 
A  very  few  of  them  are  here  gathered  together.  Never- 
theless, what  a  stupendous  portrait  do  they  form  !  Noth- 
ing next  to  or  like  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  the 
whole  race.  Here  is  One  presented  to  us  who  is  a  true 


276  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  fESUS. 

and  genuine  man,  and  yet  He  is  the  ideal,  the  represent- 
ative, the  pattern  man ;  claiming  kindred  in  the  catho- 
licity of  His  manhood  with  all  men;  sinless,  yet  full  of 
tenderness  and  pity ;  higher  than  the  highest, yet  stooping 
to  the  lowest  and  the  most  needy  ;  perfect  in  all  His  words 
and  ways,  in  His  life  and  in  His  death! 

Who  taught  the  Evangelists  to  draw  this  matchless 
picture  ?  The  pen  which  traced  these  glories  of  Jesus — 
could  it  have  been  other  than  an  inspired  pen  ?  This 
question  leads  us  to  the  second  part  of  our  task,  which 
can  soon  be  disposed  of — II.  The  application  of  the  argu- 
ment. 

Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  the  very  commonplace 
axiom,  that  every  effect  requires  an  adequate  cause. 
Given  a  piece  of  machinery,  complex,  delicate,  exact  in 
all  its  movements,  we  know  that  it  must  be  the  product 
of  a  competent  mechanic.  Given  a  work  of  consummate 
art,  we  know  it  must  be  the  product  of  a  consummate 
artist.  None  but  a  sculptor  with  the  genius  of  an  An- 
gelo  could  carve  the  "  Moses  "  of  the  Vatican.  None  but 
a  painter  with  the  hand,  the  eye,  the  brain  of  a  Raphael, 
could  paint  the  "  Transfiguration."  None  but  a  poet 
with  the  gifts  of  a  Milton  could  write  "  Paradise  Lost." 

Here  are  four  brief  records  of  our  Lord's  earthly  life. 
They  deal  almost  exclusively  with  His  public  ministry : 
they  do  not  profess  even  to  relate  all  that  He  did  in  His 
official  work  (cf.  John  xxi.  25).  The  authors  of  these 
memorials  were  men  whose  names  are  as  household  words 
the  world  over,  but  beyond  their  names  we  know  little 
more.  The  iirst  was  a  tax-collector  under  the  Roman 
government;  the  second  was,  it  is  very  generally  be- 
lieved, that  John  Mark  who  for  a  time  served  as  an  at- 
tendant on  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  who  afterward  be- 
came the  companion  and  fellow-laborer  of  Peter;  the 
third  was  a  physician,  and  the  devoted  friend  and  co- 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  277 

worker  of  Paul ;  and  the  fourth  was  a  fisherman.  Two 
of  the  four — Matthew  and  John — were  disciples  of  Jesus. 
Whether  the  others,  Mark  and  Luke,  ever  saw  Him 
during  His  earthly  sojourn,  cannot  be  certainly  deter- 
mined. 

These  four  men,  nnpracticed  in  the  art  of  writing,  un- 
acquainted with  the  ideals  of  antiquity,  write  the  memo- 
rials of  Jesus'  life.  Three  of  them  traverse  substantially 
the  same  ground,  record  the  same  incidents,  discourses, 
and  miracles.  While  they  are  penetrated  with  the  pro- 
foundest  admiration  for  their  Master,  they  never  once  di- 
late on  His  great  qualities.  All  that  they  do  is  to  record 
His  actions  and  discourses  with  scarcely  a  remark.  One 
of  them  indeed,  John,  intermingles  reflective  commentary 
with  the  narrative ;  but  in  doing  this,  John  carefully  ab- 
stains from  eulogy  and  panegyric.  He  pauses  in  his  nar- 
rative only  to  explain  some  reference,  to  open  some  deep 
saying  of  the  Lord,  or  to  press  some  vital  truth.  Yet, 
despite  this  a'  sence  of  the  Km  llest  attempt  to  delineate 
a  character,  these  four  men  have  accomplished  what  no 
others  have  done  or  can  do — they  have  presented  the 
world  with  the  portrait  of  a  Divine  Man,  a  glorious 
Saviour  I  Matthew  describes  Him  as  the  promised  Mes- 
siah, the  glory  of  Israel,  the  Son  of  David,  the  Son  of 
Abraham ;  the  One  in  whom  the  covenants  arid  promises 
find  their  ample  fulfilment;  the  One  who  accomplishes 
all  righteousness.  Mark  exhibits  Him  as  the  mighty 
Servant  of  God  who  does  man's  neglected  duty,  and 
meets  the  need  of  all  around.  Luke  depicts  Him  as  the 
Friend  of  man,  whose  love  is  so  intense  and  comprehen- 
sive, whose  pity  is  so  divine,  that  His  saving  power  goes 
forth  to  Jew  and  Gentile,  to  the  lowliest  and  the  loftiest, 
to  the  public  n,  the  Samaritan,  the  ragged  prodigal,  the 
harlot,  the  thief,  as  well  as  to  the  cultivated,  the  moral, 
the  great.  John  presents  Him  as  the  Son  of  God,  the 


278  THE  MORAL   GLORY  jOF  JESUS. 

Word  made  flesh ;  as  Light  for  a  dark  world,  as  Bread 
for  a  starving  world,  as  Life  for  a  dead  world. 

Matthew  writes  for  the  Jew  ;  Mark  for  the  Roman  ; 
Luke  for  the  Greek ;  John  for  the  Church ;  and  all  of 
them  write  for  every  kindred,  and  tribe,  and  nation,  and 
tongue,  and  people  of  the  entire  globe,  and  for  all  time.! 

What  the  philosopher,  the  poet,  the  scholar,  the  artist, 
could  not  do;  what  the  statesman,  the  warrior,  the 
prince,  could  not  do  ;  what  men  of  the  most  colossal 
minds,  the  most  stupendous  genius,  have  failed  to  do, 
these  four  un practiced  men  have  done — they  have  pre- 
sented to  the  world  the  Son  of  Man  and  the  Son  of  God, 
in  all  His  perfections  and  glories ! 

How  comes  it  to  pass  that  these  unlearned  and  ignorant 
men  (Acts  iv.  13)  have  accomplished  so  great  a  feat  ?  Let 
us  hold  fast  our  commonplace  axiom :  every  effect  must 
have  an  adequate  cause.  What  explanation  shall  we  give 
of  this  amazing  effect?  Shall  we  ascribe  their  work  to 
genius?  But  multitudes  of  men  both  before  and  since 
their  day  have  possessed  genius  of  the  very  highest  or- 
der ;  and  these  gifted  men  have  labored  in  fields  akin  to 
this  of  our  four  Evangelists.  The  mightiest  minds  of  the 
race — men  of  Chaldea,  of  Egypt,  of  Greece,  of  China, 
and  of  India — have  essayed  to  draw  a  perfect  character, 
to  paint  a  godlike  man.  And  with  what  result?  Either 
he  is  invested  with  the  passions  and  brutalities  of  fallen 
man,  or  he  is  a  pitiless  and  impassible  spectator  of  the 
world's  sorrows  and  woes.  In  either  case,  the  character 
is  one  which  may  command  the  fear,  but  not  the  love  and 
confidence  of  men. 

The  Christ  of  the  Gospels  is  the  true  God-man.  He  is 
the  eternal  Son  of  God.  Yet  He  is  genuinely  human  :  a 
sharer  of  our  nature ;  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin. 

Again  we   ask,   How  did   the   Evangelists  solve  this 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  279 

mighty  problem  of  humanity  with  such  perfect  original- 
ity and  precision  ?  Only  two  answers  are  rationally  pos- 
sible :  1.  They  had  before  them  the  living  model — the 
personal  and  historical  Christ.  Men  could  no  more  in- 
vent the  God-man  of  the  Gospels  than  they  could  create 
a  world.  The  almost  irreverent  words  of  Theodore 
Parker  are  grounded  in  absolute  truth-:  "  It  would  have 
taken  a  Jesus  to  forge  a  Jesus."  2.  They  wrote  by  in- 
spiration of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  cannot 'be  otherwise. 
It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  Divine  Model  was  before 
them :  they  must  have  had  something  more,  else  they 
never  could  have  succeeded. 

Let  it  be  assumed  that  these  four  men,  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John,  were  personally  attendant  on  the  minis- 
try of  Jesus — that  they  saw  Him,  heard  Him,  companied 
with  Him  for  three  years.  Yet,  on  their  own  showing, 
they  did  not  understand  Him.  They  testify  that  the 
disciples  got  but  the  slenderest  conceptions  of  His  person 
and  mission  from  His  very  explicit  teachings.  They  tell 
us  of  a  wonderful  incapacity  and  weakness  in  all  their 
apprehensions  of  Him.  The  Sun  of  Righteousness  was 
shining  on  them  and  around  them,  and  fhey  could  see 
only  the  less  !  And  yet  these  four  men,  once  so  blind  and 
ignorant,  write  four  little  pieces  about  the  person  and 
work  of  Jesus  which  the  study  and  research  of  Christen- 
dom for  eighteen  hundred  years  have  not  exhausted,  and 
which  the  keenest  and  most  hostile  criticism  of  the  world 
cannot  shake. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Others  have  tried  their  hand  at 
composing  the  Life  of  Jesus.  Compare  some  of  these 
with  our  four  Gospels. 

The  Gospel  narrative  observes  an  almost  unbroken 
silence  as  to  the  long  abode  of  Jesus  at  Naz  reth.  Of 
the  void  thus  left  the  Church  became  early  impatient. 
During  the  first  four  centuries  many  attempts  were  made 


280  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

to  fill  it  up.  Some  of  these  apocryphal  gospels  are  still 
extant,  notably  two,  entitled  the  Gospel  of  the  Infancy ; 
and  it  is  instructive  to  notice  how  those  succeeded  who 
tried  to  lift  the  veil  which  covers  the  earlier  years  of 
Christ.  Let  another  state  the  contrast  between  the  New 
Testament  records  and  the  spurious  gospels :  "  The  case 
stands  thus :  Our  Gospels  present  us  with  a  picture  of  a 
glorious  Christ,  the  mythic  gospels  with  that  of  a  con- 
temptible one.  In  our  Gospels  He  exhibits  a  superhuman 
wisdom ;  in  the  mythic  ones  a  nearly  equal  superhuman 
absurdity.  In  our  Gospels  He  is  arrayed  in  all  the 
beauty  of  holiness  ;  in  the  mythic  ones  this  aspect  of 
character  is  entirely  wanting.  In  our  Gospels  not  one 
stain  of  sinfulness  denies  His  character ;  in  the  mythic 
ones  the  Boy  Jesus  is  both  pettish  and  malicious.  Our 
Gospels  exhibit  to  us  a  sublime  morality  ;  not  one  ray 
of  it  shines  in  those  of  the  mythologists.  The  miracles 
of  the  one  and  of  the  other  stand  contrasted  on  every 
point"  (Kow). 

These  spurious  gospels  were  written  by  men  who  lived 
not  long  after  the  apostolic  age ;  by  Christians  who 
wished  to  honor  the  Saviour  in  all  they  said  about  Him ; 
by  men  who  had  the  portraiture  of  Him  before  them 
which  the  Gospels  supply.  And  yet  these  men,  better 
taught,  many  of  them,  than  the  Apostles,  with  the  advan- 
tage of  two  or  three  centuries  of  Christian  thought  and 
study,  could  not  attempt  a  fancy  sketch  of  the  Child 
Jesus,  without  violating  our  sense  of  propriety  and  shock- 
ing our  moral  sense.  The  distance  between  the  Gospels 
of  the  New  Testament  and  the  pseudo-gospels  is  meas- 
ured by  the  distance  between  the  product  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  that  of  the  fallen  human  mind. 

Let  us  take  one  other  illustration.  The  present  cen- 
tury has  been  very  fruitful  in  the  production  of  what  are 
commonly  called  "  Lives  of  Christ."  Contrast  with  the 


THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS.  281 

Gospel  records  four  such  "  Lives  ";  perhaps  the  completest 
and  best,  taken  altogether,  of  those  written  by  English- 
speaking  people,  are  Andrews',  Geikie's,  Hanna's,  and 
Edersheim's. 

The  authors  of  our  Gospels  had  no  models  on  which  to 
frame  their  work.  The  path  they  trod  had  never  before 
been  pressed  by  human  feet.  The  authors  of  the  "  Lives  " 
have  not  only  these  incomparable  narratives  as  their  pat- 
tern and  the  chief  source  of  all  their  material,  but  num- 
berless other  such  "  Lives "  suggestive  as  to  form  and 
construction,  and  the  research  and  culture  of  eighteen 
centuries  lying  behind  them.  But  would  any  one  ven- 
ture for  a  moment  to  set  these  "  Lives  "  forth  as  rivals  of 
our  Gospels  ? 

Much  information  and  real  helpfulness  are  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  devout  labors  of  these  Christian  scholars. 
If  an  opinion  of  the  relative  value  of  them  may  be  ex- 
pressed, it  may  be  said  that  Andrews'  "  Life  "  excels  for 
accuracy  in  questions  of  chronology  and  topography; 
Edersheim's  and  Geikie's,  for  thorough  acquaintance  with 
the  Times  of  the  Advent ;  and  Hanna's,  for  spirituality 
and  clear  insight  into  the  character  of  Jesus.  But  how 
far  below  our  Gospels  each  and  all  of  them  fall,  it  is  need- 
less to  show. 

Let  the  contrast  likewise  be  noted  as  to  size  or  bulk. 
Planna's  book  contains  over  2,100  pages;  Edersheim's, 
1,500;  Geikie's,  over  1,200;  and  Andrews',  615  pages. 
The  four  combined  have  no  less  than  5,490  pages — enough 
in  these  busy  days  to  require  months  of  reading  to  go  but 
once  through  their  contents, 

Bagster's  Bible  prints  the  four  Gospels  in  82  pages; 
the  Oxford,  in  104;  and  the  Revision  (Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, 8vo,)  in  88  pages.  In  the  Bagster,  Matthew 
has  but  23 ;  Mark,  15 ;  Luke,  25 ;  and  John,  19. 
Less  than  one  hundred  pages  of  the  four  Gospels  against 


282  THE  MORAL   GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

more  than  .five  thousand  four  hundred  of  the  four 
"Lives"! 

Countless  volumes  and  tomes,  great  and  small,  in  the 
form  of  commentary,  exposition,  notes,  harmony,  and 
history,  are  written  on  these  four  brief  records.  How 
happens  it  that  such  stores  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  lie 
garnered  in  these  short  pieces  ?  Who  taught  the  Evan- 
gelists this  superhuman  power  of  expansion  and  contrac- 
tion, of  combination  and  separation,  of  revelation  in  the 
words  and  more  revelation  below  the  words?  Who 
taught  them  so  to  describe  the  person  and  work,  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  as  that  the  description  satisfies  the  most 
illiterate  and  the  most  learned,  is  adapted  to  minds  of 
the  most  limited  capacity,  and  to  those  of  the  widest 
grasp  ?  Where  did  they  derive  the  infinite  skill  they 
display  in  grouping  together  events,  discourses,  and  ac- 
tions in  such  fashion,  that  vividly  before  us,  is  the  death- 
less beauty  of  a  perfect  Life  ?  There  is  but  one  answer 
to  these  questions,  there  can  be  no  other.  The  Spirit  of 
the  living  God  filled  their  minds  with  His  unerring  wis- 
dom, and  He  controlled  their  human  speech.  To  that 
creative  Spirit  who  has  peopled  the  world  with  living 
creatures  so  minute  that  only  the  microscope  can  reveal 
their  presence,  it  is  not  hard  to  give  us  in  so  brief  a  com- 
pass the  sublime  portrait  of  the  Son  of  Man.  To  men  it 
is  impossible. 

Now,  if  the  Holy  Spirit  be  the  real  Author  of  the  four 
Gospels,  He  is  as  certainly  the  Author  of  the  rest  of  the 
New  Testament.  For  all  the  later  communications  con- 
tained in  the  Acts,  the  Epistles,  and  the  Apocalypse  are 
found  in  germ  form  in  the  Gospels,  just  as  the  Pentateuch 
holds  in  germ  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  revela- 
tion contained  in  the  Gospels  does  not  bear  the  character 
of  finality.  It  seems  to  need  and  to  promise  further  light 
to  be  given  without  which  our  knowledge  of  Jesus  and 


THE  MORAL   GLOR  Y  OF  JESUS.  283 

His  perfect  work  would  be  slender  indeed.  The  immense 
significance  of  His  life,  death,  resurrection,  and  ascension 
could  no  more  be  drawn  out  by  the  unaided  human  mind, 
even  with  the  Gospels  in  its  possession,  than  could  man 
grow  a  seed  into  perfection  without  sun,  earth,  and  moist- 
ure. He  who  created  the  seed  is  alone  competent  to  un- 
fold it  into  mature  fruit. 

The  opening  words  of  Acts  are  striking  and  deeply 
suggestive :  "  The  former  treatise  have  I  made,  O  The- 
ophilus,  of  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to  do  and  to  teach, 
until  the  day  in  which  He  was  taken  up  ": — words  the  plain 
import  of  which  is,  that  what  Jesus  began  in  His  minis- 
try on  earth  He  continued  after  He  was  taken  up.  His 
teaching  while  here  was  not  final :  it  was,  we  may  rever- 
ently say,  introductory.  Its  completion  awaited  His  glo- 
rious ascension.  And  when  He  went  on  high  He  fulfilled 
His  promise  .and  sent  down  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  great 
office  it  was  to  finish  the  revelations  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
to  inaugurate  and  carry  forward  the  Christian  dispensation. 

Furthermore,  if  we  admit  the  inspiration  of  the  New, 
we  must  likewise  concede  the  inspiration  of  the  Old 
Testament.  For,  if  any  one  thing  has  been  established 
by  the  study  and  research  of  Christian  scholars  beyond 
peradventure  and  beyond  dispute,  it  is  this:  that  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  contain  in  germ  form 
the  entire  revelation  of  the  New.  That  epoch-making 
man,  Augustine,  spoke  as  truly  as  profoundly,  when  he 
said :  "Novum  Testamentum  in  vetere  latet^  Yetus  in 
JVovo patet " — "  The  New  Testament  lies  concealed  in  the 
Old,  and  the  Old  stands  revealed  in  the  New." 

If  any  man  deny  the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament, 
logically  he  must  also  deny  that  of  the  New;  for  the  two 
are  inseparably  bound  up  together.  If  one  fall,  so  must 
the  other.  A  body  started  upon  a  sloping  path  is  not 
likely  to  stand  still. 


284:  THE  MORAL  GLORY  OF  JESUS. 

Christ  is  the  centre  of  all  Scripture  as  He  is  the  centre 
of  all  God's  counsels.  The  four  Evangelists  take  up  the 
life  and  character  of  Jesus  as  these  actually  appeared 
among  men,  and  they  place  them  alongside  of  the  Messiah 
as  sketched  by  the  prophets,  the  historical  by  the  side  ol 
the  prophetic,  and  they  show  how  precisely  and  exactly 
the  two  match.  So  long  as  the  four  Gospels  remain,  so 
long  is  the  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
unassailable. 

God  spake  to  the  fathers  in  the  prophets:  He  now 
speaks  to  us  in  His  Son.  In  either  case,  whether  by  the 
prophets  or  by  the  Son,  the  Speaker  is  God. 


THE  CANON  OF  SCKIPTUKE. 

TALBOT   W.    CHAMBERS,    D.D. 

THE  question  I  am  to  treat  is  the  Canon  of  Scripture, 
or  in  other  words,  what  books  actually  belong  to  the  Bi- 
ble. The  subject  is  of  no  small  importance,  for  if  the 
Scriptures  be,  as  all  evangelical  men  admit,  the  rule  ot 
faith  and  the  guide  to  practice ;  if  they  be  or  contain  a 
revelation  from  God,  we  need  to  know  whether  the  book 
which  we  receive  and  hold  as  the  Bible  really  deserves 
that  character.  Error  or  even  uncertainty  here  would  be 
a  serious  drawback  on  Christian  peace  and  progress.  And 
the  more,  as  it  is  not  infrequently  asserted  that  the  con- 
fidence of  believers  is  misplaced ;  that  the  different  works 
embraced  in  the  sacred  volume  have  found  admission 
there  on  insufficient  grounds,  while  some  have  been  left 
out  which  had  as  good  a  right  as  any  others  to  be  in  the 
collection ;  and  that  therefore  there  is  need  of  a  critical 
estimate  in  each  case  in  order  to  revise  our  conclusions  and 
determine  afresh  what  is  and  what  is  not  part  and  parcel 
of  the  Bible.  That  this  view,  by  whatever  great  names  it 
is  sustained,  is  shallow  and  unscientific,  will,  I  trust,  be 
made  to  appear  in  the  course  of  the  discussion  that  fol- 
lows. 

Among  Christians,  opinions  are  divided  first  and  mainly 
by  the  answers  they  give  to  the  question,  What  is  the 
rule  by  which  we  are  to  determine  the  canonical  authority 
either  of  the  Scripture  as  a  whole  or  of  any  part  of  it  ? 
The;  e  answers  may  be  reduced  to  three.  Some  say  it  is 
the  Church  that  gives  the  requisite  authority  to  the  Canon ; 

(385) 


286  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

others  maintain  that  it  is  dimna  fides,  or  the  witness  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  author  of  the  word,  in  the  heart  of 
the  believer;  while  a  third  class  insist  that  historical  tra- 
dition is  the  only  sufficient  basis.  And  it  is  clear  that 
these  views  are  mutually  exclusive.  If  a  man  holds  one, 
he  must  renounce  the  others.  If  one  claim  that  the 
Church  has  authority  in  the  premises,  he  cannot  consist- 
ently impeach  that  authority  by  appealing  to  something 
else.  So,  if  he  hold  to  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  and  in- 
sists that  thus  his  faith  has  a  divine  foundation  which 
alone  is  adequate,  he  is  debarred  from  any  support  that  is 
distinctively  human  ;  otherwise  he  renounces  his  princi- 
ple. In  like  manner  the  effort  to  establish  the  Canon  by 
an  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  those  who  first  received  the 
sacred  books  and  their  successors  implies  that  neither  the 
objective  ground  of  the  Church's  authority  nor  the  sub- 
jective ground  of  divina  fides  is  a  sufficient  basis  for  our 
faith  that  what  we  receive  as  Scripture  is  really  entitled 
to  that  name. 

I.  It  is  an  opinion  widely  diffused  through  Christendom 
that  we  depend  upon  the  authority  of  the  Church  for  the 
determination  of  the  Canon.  This  is  the  view  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  Catholics,  and  of  not  a  few  in  the 
Church  of  England  and  its  daughter  in  this  country. 
The  great  Latin  father,  Augustine,  is  on  record  as  saying, 
"  For  my  part  I  should  not  believe  the  Gospel  except  as 
moved  by  the  authority  of  the  Catholic  Church  "  ("  Contra 
Epis.  Manich.  Quam  Vocant  Fundamentum"  chap.  5), 
and  although  Calvin  endeavors  ("Institutes,"  L,  vii.  3)  to 
show  that  Augustine  is  speaking  only  of  a  supposed  case 
of  a  person  knowing  nothing  of  the  matter  and  therefore 
dependent  upon  human  testimony,  he  hardly  makes  out 
his  position.*  Yet,  in  another  of  his  writings  ("  De  Doct. 

*  Prof.  Henry  B.  Smith  says  that  the  saying  ' '  is  fairly  in- 
terpreted as  meaning,  not  that  the  Church  gave  authority  to  the 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Christ.,"  ii.  12,  13),  Augustine  certainly  speaka  of  the, 
canonical  Scriptures  as  depending  not  on  the  authority 
of  the  Church,  but  on  the  witness  of  the  several  churches, 
the  weight  and  influence  of  which  as  well  as  their  num- 
bers are  to  be  counted  by  whoever  wishes  to  be  a  wise 
student  of  the  divine  Scriptures.  And  Jerome  seems  to 
have  been  of  the  same  opinion.  But  the  Council  of  Trent 
settled  the  question  for  Rome  in  a  summary  way,  and  pro- 
nounced the  usual  anathema  against  all  who  held  the  con- 
trary. And  all  Romanists  now  would  say,  as  the  learned 
Dr.  Doyle  once  said  in  regard  to  another  matter,  "  The 
Church  has  spoken  at  Trent,  causa  est  finita"  It  is  to 
be  observed  that  the  reference  here  is  not  to  the  testimony 
of  various  bodies  of  believers  in  different  places  as  wit- 
nesses in  respect  to  the  writings  which  they  received  as 
apostolic  and  inspired,  and  which  therefore  were  regarded 
as  having  a  divine  sanction,  for  this  is  a  matter  upon 
which  there  need  be  no  difference  of  opinion.  But  when 
men  speak  of  receiving  the  Scriptures  on  the  authority  of 
the  Church,  what  they  mean  is  the  deliberate  voice  of  the 
Church  as  a  great  corporate  organization,  acting  through 
the  decision  of  its  chief  officials,  which  may  be  a  general 
council,  or  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  successor  of  Peter.  (1). 
The  first  and  obvious  objection  to  this  theory  is  that  it  is 
a  notable  specimen  of  what  is  called  reasoning  in  a  circle. 
For  we  cannot  determine  the  claims  of  the  Church  ex- 
cept by  the  declarations  of  Scripture,  and  yet  we  are  to 
go  to  the  Church  to  learn  what  Scripture  is.  Clearly,  no 
progress  can  be  made  by  proceeding  in  this  way.  In 
each  case  the  question  is  begged  in  advance,  and  at  the 
conclusion  we  are  just  where  we  were  at  the  beginning. 
(2).  We  desire  to  know  how  the  heads  of  the  Church, 
whether  one  or  many,  reach  their  conclusion  and  are  able 


Scriptures,  but  gave  to  Augustine  his  authority  for  receiving 
them  "  ("Introduction  to  Christian  Theology,"  p.  192). 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

to  pronounce  authoritatively  upon  the  subject.  It  must 
be  by  an  immediate  revelation  from  heaven  or  by  their 
study  of  the  facts  in  the  case.  If  it  be  the  former,  then 
it  is  a  private  matter,  known  only  to  themselves  and  not 
established  to  us  by  any  proof,  and  therefore  in  no  de- 
gree entitled  to  our  confidence  or  obedience.  If  it  be  the 
latter,  then  the  same  sources  of  information  are  open  to 
us,  and  we  may  apply  ourselves  to  them  humbly  and  pa- 
tiently in  the  expectation  that  the  divine  guidance  and 
blessing  will  not  be  withheld.  (3).  We  find  nowhere  in 
what  purports  to  be  Scripture  any  reference  to  the  Church 
as  the  arbiter  of  such  a  question.  As  the  mystical  body 
of  Christ,  the  Church  is  inexpressibly  dear  to  Him,  but  He 
has  committed  to  her  no  such  authority  as  is  here  claimed. 
The  oft-quoted  expression,  "  Hear  the  Church  "  (Matthew 
xviii.  17),  has  reference  to  the  settlement  of  a  private  dis- 
pute between  individuals,  and  is  merely  a  statement  as  to 
the  exercise  of  discipline  and  one  that  is  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  a  society,  but  it  bears  not  even  remotely 
upon  the  determination  of  points  of  faith.  (4).  Moreover,  it 
the  voice  of  ecclesiastical  authority  is  to  settle  the  Canon, 
one  may  well  wonder  why  it  was  not  heard  at  any  earlier 
period.  No  such  voice  was  uttered  for  the  first  fourteen 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  Numerous  oecumenical 
councils  were  held  from  Nicsea  to  Basle,  yet  not  one  of 
them  took  up  the  subject.  It  was  not  until  1441  that 
Pope  Eugenius  broke  the  long  silence  of  ecclesiastics  by 
promulgating  on  his  own  authority  a  list  of  the  books  ot 
Scripture,  being  impelled  to  this  doubtless  by  the  terrible 
confusions  of  that  period.  This  list  was  faithfully  repro- 
duced a  century  afterward  by  the  Council  of  Trent.  But 
these  were  novel  procedures.  During  all  the  fourteen 
centuries  that  preceded,  the  people  of  God,  whatever 
their  conflicts  and  trials,  seem  never  to  have  felt  any 
need  of  an  authoritative  decision  on  the  limits  of  Scrip- 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

ture.  The  question  was  often  discussed  and  there  weVe 
various  opinions,  but  no  one  thought  of  having  an  exact 
definition  imposed  upon  clergy  or  laity.  And  if  before 
the  division  of  Christendom  a  decree  of  this  kind  was  not 
sought  or  made,  still  less  is  there  need  to  look  for  it  in 
the  stormy  days  which  succeeded  the  revival  of  letters  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  All  that  any  number  of  churches 
could  do  now  would  be  to  reaffirm  a  conclusion  already 
reached  on  other  and  independent  grounds. 

II.  When  the  Reformers,  in  the  16th  century,  broke 
with  Rome,  they  of  course  rejected  the  authority  of  the 
Church  as  an  arbiter  of  the  Canon.  What  they  adopted 
instead  of  this  was  divina  fides,  or  the  spiritual  perception 
of  the  believer.  The  view  was  formulated  in  the  Gallican 
Confession  in  these  words.  After  stating  the  books  by 
name,  it  says:  "We  know  these  books  to  be  canonical 
and  the  sure  rule  of  our  faith,  not  so  much  by  the  com- 
mon accord  and  consent  of  the  Church  as  by  the  testi- 
mony and  inward  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which 
enables  us  to  distinguish  them  from  other  ecclesiastical 
books  upon  which,  however  useful,  we  cannot  found  any 
articles  of  faith."  It  was  thought  that  in  this  way  the 
faith  of  the  Church  in  its  sacred  books  was  taken  off  from 
any  human  foundation,  and  placed  upon  one  that  was 
simply  and  purely  divine.  But  such  a  notion  certainly  con- 
founded things  that  differ.  It  is  one  thing  to  know  by 
the  immediate  action  of  the  divine  Spirit  upon  the  heart 
that  the  great  features  of  the  Gospel  are  true,  so  that 
plain  men,  comparing  their  own  experience  with  what  is 
stated  to  them,  may  feel  as  sure  of  the  saving  truths  of 
the  Gospel  as  if  they  heard  them  announced  by  a  voice 
from  heaven  ;  but  it  is  quite  another  thing  to  be  con- 
vinced that  all  the  books  of  the  Bible  are  divine,  and  to 
be  able,  by  the  inward  witness  of  the  Spirit,  to  discrimi- 
nate the  canonical  books  from  the  apocryphal.  The  for- 


290  THE   CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

mer  is  a  matter  of  every -day  experience,  and  has  been  seen 
times  without  number  in  all  ages  of  the  Church  ;  but  the 
latter  has  never  been  verified,  indeed  is  incapable  of  ver- 
ification. Most  candid  men  would  agree  with  Richard 
Baxter,  who  said  ("  Saint's  Rest,"  Preface  to  Part  II.) :  "  I 
confess  for  my  own  part  I  could  never  boast  of  any  such 
testimony  or  light  of  the  Spirit,  nor  reason  neither,  which, 
without  human  testimony  or  tradition,  would  have  made 
me  believe  that  the  Book  of  Canticles  is  canonical,  and 
written  by  Solomon,  and  the  Book  of  Wisdom  apocryphal, 
and  written  by  Philo,  as  some  think.  Nor  could  I  have 
known  all  or  any  historical  books,  such  as  Joshua,  Judges, 
Ruth,  Samuel,  Kings,  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiab,  etc., 
to  be  written  by  divine  inspiration,  but  by  tradition. 
Nor  could  I  know  any  or  all  of  those  books  to  be  God's 
word,  which  contain  mere  positive  constitutions,  as  Exo- 
dus, Leviticus,  etc.,  were  it  not  for  the  same  tradition." 

The  same  point  has  been  expressed  in  this  way,  by  an 
American  divine  of  the  last  generation  :  "  Suppose  that  a 
thousand  books  of  various  kinds,  including  the  canonical, 
were  placed  before  any  sincere  Christian,  would  he  be 
able,  without  mistake,  to  select  from  this  mass  the  twenty- 
seven  books  of  which  the  New  Testament  is  composed, 
if  he  had  nothing  to  guide  him  but  the  internal  evidence? 
Would  every  such  person  be  able,  at  once,  to  determine 
whether  the  book  of  JSoclesiastes,  or  of  EoGlesiast'icus,  be- 
longed to  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  internal 
evidence  alone  ?  It  is  certain  that  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  necessary  to  produce  a  true  faith  in  the 
word  of  God ;  but  to  make  this  the  only  criterion  by 
which  to  judge  of  the  canonical  authority  of  a  bock,  is 
liable  to  strong  objections."  *  The  truth  is,  that,  while 


*  The  late  Archibald  Alexander,  D.D.,  in.  his  work,   "  The 
Canon  of  Lhe  Old  and  New  Testaments  Ascertained." 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  291 

professing  to  base  the  acceptance  of  the  Canon  upon  a 
divine  foundation,  it  really  puts  it  upon  one  that  is  essen- 
tially human,  and  therefore  variable  and  uncertain,  be- 
cause men  differ  so  widely  in  their  states  of  mind  at  dif- 
ferent times  and  places. 

The  Reformers  were  illustrious  servants  of  God,  and 
accomplished  a  most  important  work  in  His  service.  But 
even  they  did  not  learn  a  all  the  truth."  Almost  without 
exception  they  maintained  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
civil  magistrate  to  uphold  and  defend  the  interests  of  re- 
ligion, and  yet  now  it  is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of 
Christians  that  the  alliance  of  Church  and  State  is  injuri- 
ous to  both.  It  is  not  presumptuous,  therefore,  to  chal- 
lenge any  one  of  their  opinions,  and  subject  it  to  a  close 
examination  in  the  light  of  Scripture,  reason,  and  experi- 
ence. The  test  of  canonicity  which  they  felt  themselves 
constrained  to  adopt  in  their  controversy  with  Rome,  is, 
we -think,  open  to  very  grave  objections. 

1.  It  needlessly  disparages  the  principle  of  exercising 
faith  upon  adequate  evidence,  by  which  AVC  arrive  at  the 
knowledge  of  the  existence  of  God  (a  point  which  is  as- 
sumed in  the  Scriptures,  as  indeed  it  must  be  in  whatever 
claims  to  be  a  revelation  from  heaven),  and  by  which  the 
whole  business  of  life  is  carried  on.  If  such  faith  be  stig- 
matized as  merely  human,  and  therefore  imperfect  and 
unsatisfactory,  what  else  is  this  but  a  reflection  upon  Him 
who  so  constituted  us  that  our  lives  are  governed  by  con 
elusions  drawn  from  probable  evidence, — e.  g.,  as  to  the 
facts  of  history,  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  existence  of 
persons  or  places  we  have  never  seen,  etc.  The  objective 
evidence  in  favor  of  the  Canon,  as  furnished  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  primitive  believers,  in  the  general  voice  of 
Christendom,  in  the  confessions  of  acknowledged  heretics, 
and  in  the  attacks  of  pagan  opposers  of  the  truth,  is  a  solid 
basis  of  faith,  which  it  is  very  unwise  either  to  depreciate 


292  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

or  to  ignore.  As  Dr.  William  Cunningham  satys  :  "Tho 
evidence  of  the  Canon, — i.  e.,  the  proof  of  the  canonical  au- 
thority of  the  particular  books  of  Scripture, — is  analogous 
to  the  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  They  are 
both,  in  a  sense,  matters  of  fact,  and  to  be  investigated 
and  decided,  in  the  first  instance,  upon  the  ordinary  prin- 
ciples and  grounds  applicable  to  matters  of  fact"  ("  The- 
ological Lectures,"  p.  444).  Any  theory  which  sets  aside 
this  method  of  arriving  at  truth  as  invalid  or  untrustwor- 
thy, weakens  the  foundations  of  all  faith,  and  plays  into 
the  hands  of  the  adversary. 

9  2.  Practically,  this  rule  makes  each  individual  believer 
the  framer  of  his  own  Canon,  for  it  says  that  the  divine 
authority  of  Scripture  is  self-evidencing,  only  a  man  must 
be  renewed  to  sea  and  feel  this  evidence.  Bat  all  truly 
regenerate  men  are  not  equally  enlightened,  and  it  is 
quite  conceivable  that  a  difference  in  the  degree  of  their 
spiritual  perception  would  make  a  difference  in  the  num- 
ber of  the  books  they  would  receive.  Personal  convic- 
tion, on  the  divina  fides  theory,  is  all  in  all,  and  where 
this  fails,  divine  authority  and  binding  obligation  fail 
with  it,  for  each  man  has  a  right  to  appeal  to  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit  in  his  own  heart.  Others  may  differ  from 
him,  but  this  fact  gives  them  no  right  to  dictate  to  him. 
So  that,  in  its  ultimate  result,  this  theory  really  sets  up 
the  intuitions  of  man  above  what  is  claimed  for  the  writ- 
ten revelation  of  God.  Such  a  result  was  not  contem- 
plated by  its  framers,  and  would  have  been  rejected  by 
them  with  horror,  yet  it  is  a  legitimate  outcome  of  the 
principle. 

3.  The  theory,  again,  denies  any  certain  Bible  to  the 
unregenerate.  The  evidence  for  the  Canon  is,  indeed, 
abundant  and  clear,  but  he,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  is 
unable  to  see  it.  His  spiritual  eyes  have  not  been  clari- 
fied by  grace,  and  all  the  abundant  indications  of  the 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  293 

divine  origin  and  claims  of  the  Bible  are  to  him  just  as 
though  they  did  not  exist.  Surely,  this  is  not  in  accord- 
ance with  fact.  There  are  now,  as  for  a  long  time  there 
have  been,  many  persons  destitute  of  a  saving  interest  in 
Christ,  and  yet  intellectually  convinced  that  the  common 
Bible  is  what  it  claims  to  be.  Such  persons  have  no  dif- 
ficulty at  all  with  the  Canon.  Whether  from  early  train- 
ing, or  reflection,  or  observation,  or  the  operations  of 
natural  conscience,  they  have  become  perfectly  satisfied 
that  the  Scriptures  are  a  revelation  from  God,  and  wor- 
thy of  all  acceptation,  although  they  do  not  personally 
accept  and  confess  the  Lord  Jesus ;  surely,  one  has  no 
right  to  say  that  these  persons  are  not  believers  in  the 
Canon.  And  if  we  do  say  it,  at  what  a  sore  disadvantage 
are  we  placed  when  pressing  upon  them  the  claims  of  the 
Gospel  !  All  that  is  necessary  for  them  to  say  in  reply 
to  the  most  urgent  appeal,  would  be  to  affirm  that  they, 
not  having  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  their 
hearts  to  the  divine  authority  of  the  Canon,  had  not,  and 
could  not  have,  any  reason  to  accept  a  conclusion  which 
can  be  reached  only  in  this  way. 

It  was  an  error  in  the  same  direction  when  Coleridge 
made  it  a  test  of  the  divine  word  whether  it  appealed  to 
his  moral  and  spiritual  nature  with  sufficient  force. 
"  Whatever  finds  me,"  he  said,  "  bears  witness  for  itself 
that  it  has  proceeded  from  a  Holy  Spirit."  But  this  sub- 
jects the  divine  to  the  human,  and  makes  every  man  a 
judge  in  his  own  case.  Is  a  doctrine,  a  precept,  a  senti- 
ment, a  narrative  unwelcome  to  him  ?  Then  all  that  it 
is  necessary  for  him  to  say  is,  that  he  does  not  feel  it,  it 
does  not  find  him.  But  the  fault  may  be  his  own.  He 
is  so  depraved  or  perverted,  so  sensual  or  worldly-mind- 
ed, that  the  truth  has  no  power  over  him,  and  thus  sin 
becomes  its  own  excuse.  This  is  the  inevitable  difficulty 
whenever  the  Bible  is  to  be  tried  simply  by  a  subjective 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

test.  Such  tests  have  their  use  in  particular  instances, 
and  often  render  a  strong  confirmation  to  a  believer's  faith, 
but  they  cannot  of  themselves  furnish  the  basis  of  decis- 
ion, and  settle  the  question  once  for  all. 

The  divina  fides  theory  was,  as  has  been  said,  adopted 
by  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  Reformers,  and  incorporated 
more  or  less  distinctly  into  all  the  confessions  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  But  it  by  no  means  continued  to  have 
the  same  acceptance  in  subsequent  times.  Stillingfleet 
("  Origines  Sacrse,"  ii.  8)  maintains,  distinctly  in  opposi- 
tion to  any  such  requirement,  that,  "  where  there  is  any 
infallible  testimony,  there  is  sufficient  rational  evidence 
going  along  with  it,  to  make  it  appear  that*  it  is  from 
God."  The  judicious  Hooker  expresses  himself  to  the 
same  effect  in  his  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity,"  Book  3,  chap, 
viii.  (ad  finem).  I  have  already  cited  the  opinion  of 
Baxter,  and  of  Principal  Cunningham,  the  latter  of  whom 
also  says  that  "  the  sentiments  of  Baxter  on  this  subject 
are  quoted  and  sanctioned  by  Dr.  Chalmers."  In  Prin- 
cipal Hill's  "  Lectures  in  Divinity,"  the  Canon  is  treated, 
but  not  a  word  is  uttered  regarding  the  divine-faith  the- 
ory. In  the  u  Lectures  "  of  Dr.  John  Dick,  it  is  expressly 
repudiated.  He  does  not  deny  that  men  may  have  the 
witness  in  themselves  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  "  But 
observe,"  he  adds,  "  that  this  evidence  could  go  no  far- 
ther than  to  satisfy  them  that  those  doctrines  and  prom- 
ises were  from  God,  by  which  they  were  enlightened, 
sanctified,  comforted,  and  inspired  with  more  than  hu- 
man courage,  and  with  the  triumphant  hope  of  immor- 
tality. How  could  it  convince  them  that  all  the  books 
of  the  Bible  are  divine!  How  could  it  enable  them  to 
distinguish,  as  the  French  Church  pretends,  between  the 
canonical  and  the  apocryphal  books?" 

Contemporary  writers  on  dogmatics  hold  the  same 
view.  Thus,  Van  Oosterzee  ("  Christ.  Dogin.,"  i.  174), 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  295 

after  citing  the  words  of  the  Belgic  Confession  on  the 
point,  says :  "  But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Holy  Ghost 
gives,  indeed,  testimony  to  the  believer  as  to  the  saving 
revelation  contained  in  the  Scripture,  yet  not  on  this  ac- 
count necessarily  to  every  single  part,  and  just  as  little 
to  the  Bible  en  ~bloc.  For  us,  therefore,  the  question  as 
to  the  value  to  be  attached  to  the  collection  contained  in 
the  Canon  is,  and  remains,  a  purely  historical  question  ; 
the  Church,  through  the  medium  of  which  we  received  it, 
exists  for  us,  not  as  an  infallible  authority,  but  as  a  ven- 
erable witness  to  the  truth."  Dr.  Harold  Brown,  the 
Bishop  of  Ely,  in  his  "  Exposition  of  the  XXXIX  Arti- 
cles," says  on  this  subject  (vi.  2):  "  We  have  only  to  in- 
quire what  writings  were  apostolical  ;  and  for  this  pur- 
pose we  have  recourse  to  testimony,  or,  if  the  word  be 
preferred,  to  tradition."  .  .  .  .  "  The  Church  of  England 
is  not  satisfied  to  rest  her  faith  solely  on  the  authority  of 
any  council ;  neither  can  she  consent  to  forego  all  exter- 
nal testimony,  and  trust  to  an  internal  witness  alone, 
knowing  that,  as  Satan  can  transform  himself  into  an 
angel  of  light,  so  it  is  possible  that  what  seems  the  guid- 
ance of  God's  Spirit  may,  if  not  proved,  be  really  the 
suggestion  of  evil  spirits." 

The  testimony  of  theologians  of  our  own  country  is  to 
the  same  effect.  Dr.  Enoch  Pond,  of  Bangor,  in  his 
"  Lectures,"  treats  the  whole  subject  on  a  historical  basis. 
The  eminent  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  says  ("  Theology,"  i. 
153),  after  giving  the  usual  argument  for  the  Old  Testa- 
ment :  "  The  principle  on  which  the  canon  of  the  New 
Testament  is  determined  is  equally  simple.  Those  books 
and  those  only  which  can  be  proved  to  have  been  written 
by  the  apostles,  .or  to  have  received  their  sanction,  are 
to  be  recognized  as  of  divine  authority."  His  distin- 
guished son,  the  late  A.  A.  Hocl^e,  who  so  worthily  filled 
his  father's  place,  upholds  this  view  in  the  posthumous 


296  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

volume,  "  Popular  Lectures  on  Theological  Themes  "  (pp. 
76-7).  He  says  that  the  rule  is  that  any  book  written 
by  an  apostle,  or  received  generally  as  canonical  by  the 
Church  during  the  age  in  which  it  was  presided  over  and 
instructed  by  the  apostles,  is  to  be  regarded  as  canonical. 
He  expressly  denies  the  validity  of  "  Christian  conscious- 
ness" in  the  matter,  and  says  no  book  can  be  admitted 
to  the  Canon  except  on  the  ground  of  explicit  and  suffi- 
cient historical  proof.  Nor  in  the  whole  context  is  there 
any  reference  whatever  to  the  subjective  ground.  The 
equally  eminent  Dr.  Henry  B.  Smith  ("Introduction  to 
Christian  Theology,7'  pp.  190-191)  says  as  to  the  proof  of 
canonical  authority:  "What  we  must  regard  is  the  spe- 
cific evidence  from  competent  sources  that  such  and  such 
books  and  no  others  have  been  received  as  being  the  word 
of  God  to  man."  In  regard  to  the  witness  of  the  Spirit, 
he  asks:  "How  do  we  know  that  we  have  the  Spirit? 
The  Spirit  must  be  tried  by  the  Word.  The  conviction 
as  to  the  divine  authority  of  certain  writings,  which 
spread  itself  through  the  primitive  Church,  and  which 
furnishes  the  leading  proof  of  the  canonicity  of  those 
writings,  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  inward  per- 
suasion of  their  authority  which  the  Holy  Spirit  produces 
on  individual  minds."  The  latest  important  work  on 
Systematic  Theology,  produced  in  our  country,  that 
of  Dr.  A.  II.  Strong,  (Rochester,  1886,)  takes  the  same 
ground.  "  We  do  not  receive  the  Scriptures  upon  the 
authority  of  Fathers  or  Councils,  but  only  as  the  Fathers 
and  Councils  received  them,  because  we  have  evidence 
that  they  are  the  writings  of  the  men,  or  class  of  men, 
whose  names  they  bear,  and  that  they  are  also  credible 
and  inspired."  "  We  show  their  genuineness  as  wre 
would  show  the  genuineness  of  other  religious  books,  like 
tho  Koran,  or  of  secular  documents,  like  Cicero's  Ora- 
tions against  Cataline." 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  297 

Indeed,  the  consensus  of  modern  divines  in  all  the 
evangelical  bodies  seems  to  be  complete  in  the  rejection 
of  the  view  of  the  Reformers,  who  took  no  account  of  the 
general  voice  of  Christendom,  and  acted  as  though  each 
solitary  man  were  brought  to  weigh  for  himself  the  claims 
of  a  new  book.  The  only  exception  of  importance  is 
Professor  C.  A.  Briggs,  who,  in  his  recent  acute  and 
learned  work,  entitled  ''Biblical  Study,"  (pp.  108,  123, 
203,)  reaffirms,  in  the  strongest  form,  the  subjective  prin- 
ciple, calls  it  "  the  true  Puritan  mystic,"  and  declares  that 
"  this  was  the  so-called  formal  principle  of  the  Reformation, 
no  less  important  than  the  so-called  material  principle  of 
justification  by  faith."  We  have  no  disposition  to  ques- 
tion its  claim  to  the  former  character,  whatever  that  may 
mean,  but  the  latter  part  of  the  assertion  is  an  evident 
mistake.  The  formal  principle  of  the  Reformation  was 
not  any  particular  method  of  settling  the  Canon,  but  the 
Bible  itself,  the  living  oracles  of  God,  as  distinguished  on 
one  hand  from  the  traditions  of  men,  however  learned  or 
wise  or  venerable,  and  on  the  other  from  all  forms  of  vis- 
ionary enthusiasm  in  men  claiming  to  have  an  immediate 
personal  revelation  from  heaven.*  All  the  Reformers, 


*  ' '  Luther  was  led  to  the  'material  principle  of  Protestantism, 
viz.,  justification  by  faith,  which  is  the  central  point  for  the 
right  understanding-  of  the  development  of  the  whole  Protest- 
ant system  of  theology.  With  this  is  connected  the  breaking 
away  from  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  the  subjection  to 
the  authority  of  Scripture,  or  the  formal  principle  of  the 
Reformation.  Both  principles  belong  together."  (Hagenbach's 
"History  of  Doctrines,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  141). 

' '  The  doctrinal  principle  of  evangelical  Protestantism  as  dis- 
tinct from  Romanism,  is  twofold — objective  and  subjective. 
The  objective  (generally  called  the  formal)  principle,  maintains 
the  absolute  sovereignty  of  the  Bible  as  the  only  infallible  rule 
of  faith  and  life,  in  opposition  to  the  Roman  doctrine  of  the 
Bible  and  tradition,  as  co-ordinate  rules  of  faith.  Tradition 


298  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

with  one  voice,  declared  this  to  be  the  only  norm,  and 
the  primary  source  of  saving  truth,  and  for  this  they  con- 
tended to  the  last,  and  with  the  greatest  vehemence.  But, 
surely,  it  is  a  sad  confusion  to  substitute  for  this  great 
granite  foundation,  upon  which  everything  rests,  a  mere 
statement  of  the  way  to  determine  what  books  belong  to 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  The  latter  is,  indeed, 
interesting  and  important,  but  the  former  was  the  logical 
basis  of  the  whole  movement,  that  without  which  the 
Reformation  would  have  died  in  its  cradle. 

III.  The  true  method  of  ascertaining  the  Canon  is  that 
of  Historical  Tradition.  This  was  the  course  pursued 
for  centuries  by  the  early  Church,  and  what  answered  their 
purposes  will  surely  answer  ours.  The  same  rule  applies 
to  both  Testaments.  We  learn  from  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures the  existence  and  character  of  the  Old  Testament, 
but  they  furnish  no  list  of  the  books  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed. But  this  deficiency  is  completely  supplied  from 
trustworthy  sources,  one  of  which  is  Josephus.  a  native 
historian,  who  lived  in  the  first  century  of  oui*era,  and 
who  gives  an  exact  statement  of  the  sacred  books,  which 
he  claims  have  come  down  from  their  authors  without  in- 
crease, diminution,  or  alteration,  and  which,  he  says,  "all 
Jews  are  instinctively  led  from  their  birth  to  regard  as  the 
decrees  of  God,  and  to  abide  by  them,  and,  if  need  be, 
gladly  to  die  for  them."  The  catalogue  which  he  gives 
corresponds  with  the  one  now  current  among  us.  The 


is  not  set  aside  altogether,  but  subordinated,  and  its  value  made 
to  depend  upon  the  measure  of  its  agreement  with  the  Word  of 
God.  The  subjective  (commonly  called  the  material)  princi- 
ple, is  the  doctrine  by  the  free  grace  of  God  through  a  living 
faith  in  Christ  as  the  only  and  sufficient  Saviour  in  opposition 
to  the  Roman  doctrine  of  (progressive)  justification  by  faith 
and  good  works  as  co-ordinate  conditions  of  justification." 
(Schaff's  "Creeds  of  Christendom,"  vol.  i.,  p.  206). 


CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  299 

same  account  k  given  by  the  other  witness,  Philo,  an 
Alexandrian  Jew,  who  flourished  in  the  same  century,  and 
is  well  known  by  his  philosophical  writings.  Neither  of 
these  men  was  ignorant  that  there  were  numerous  other 
writings  which  made  some  claim  to  biblical  authority,  but 
they  drew  a  sharp  line  of  distinction  between  them  and 
the  genuine  sacred  books.  These  testimonies,  strong  and 
sufficient  in  themselves,  are  sustained  by  other  considera- 
tions drawn  from  Jewish  tradition,  from  the  language  of 
the  so-called  apocryphal  books,  from  their  substance  and 
character,  and  from  the  utterances  of  the  Christian  Fathers ; 
but  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  details  on  this  point  or 
discuss  the  many  interesting  questions  it  brings  up.  The 
Old  Testament  is  so  largely  sustained  by  the  New,  not 
only  as  the  latter  involves  the  former  throughout,  but  also 
in  the  way  of  various  and  repeated  quotation,  that  it  is  of 
primary  importance  to  maintain  the  canonical  authority 
of  the  Greek.  Scriptures,  since  this  carries  with  it  that  of  the 
Hebrew. 

In  regard  to  the  New  Testament  the  case  is  by  no 
means  so  simple  as  it  is  with  the  older  book.  The  rule  to 
be  applied  here  is,  that  "  Every  book  is  genuine  which  was 
so  esteemed  by  those  who  lived  nearest  to  the  time  when 
it  was  written,  and  by  the  ages  following  in  a  continued 
series."  There  are  not  many  who  dispute  the  intrinsic 
reasonableness  of  this  rule,  but  there  are  many  who  deny 
that  its  application  will  bring  out  the  result  which  we 
claim — i.  e.,  the  indisputable  canonicity  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  we  have  it  to-day.  Every  inch  of  ground  in  the 
first  three  centuries  has  been  fought  over  again  and  again, 
and  the  din  of  battle  has  not  yet  ceased,  nor  indeed  is 
it  likely  soon  to  come  to  an  end.  Passions  and  preju- 
dices are  enlisted,  and  so  much  depends  upon  the  issue 
that  it  can  hardly  be  pursued  with  an  impartial  mind. 
Of  course,  in  a  paper  of  this  kind,  a  full  and  minute  dis- 


300  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

cussion  cannot  be  carried  on.     All  that  is  aimed  at  is  to 
give  an  outline  of  the  argument. 

We  maintain  that  the  Canon  can  be  successfully  estab- 
lished from  the  testimony  of  those  to  whom  the  various 
inspired  writings  were  originally  delivered.  JBy  this,  of 
course,  it  is  not  claimed,  as  some  seem  to  have  imagined, 
that  there  was  an  official  list  of  sacred  writings  made  by 
the  apostles  themselves  or  the  last  survivor  of  them.  The 
books  of  the  New  Testament  came  into  existence  at  vari- 
ous times  and  places  under  the  guidance  of  Providence. 
The  propagation  of  the  Gospel  was,  in  the  first  instance, 
and  for  many  years,  made  orally,  arid  with  the  use  only 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  written  Scripture.  In  the  course 
of  time  there  grew  up  a  series  of  compositions,  whether 
narrative  or  epistolary,  which  were  regarded  by  those  into 
whose  hands  they  came  as  of  divine  origin  and  authority. 
By  these  they  were  communicated  to  others,  and  thus 
gradually  they  came  to  be  universally  recognized  as  the 
standard  of  faith  and  practice.  These  writings  were  all 
completed  by  the  end  of  the  first  century,  having  proceeded 
from  the  pen  of  apostles,  or  of  apostolical  men  ;  that  is, 
men  under  the  influence  and  guidance  of  the  apostles. 
But  there  was  no  official  determination  of  their  number  or 
character  made  at  that  early  period.  As  Reuss  tells  us, 
"  There  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  the  apostles,  and,  as  a 
rule,  the  Christians  of  their  time,  held  the  law  and  the 
prophets  to  be  divinely  inspired,  and  therefore  held  the 
words  of  Scripture  to  be  not  the  words  of  men,  but  the 
words  of  God."  *  This  fact,  indeed,  is  apparent  on  the 
face  of  the  New  Testament,  and  becomes  the  more  cer- 
tain the  more  carefully  its  pages  are  studied.  And  the 
notion  of  inspiration  then  held  included  all  the  elements 
of  excellence  and  of  absoluteness  which  have  been  given 


*  "History  of  the  Canon,"  Eng.  trans.,  p.  12. 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  301 

to  it  in  any  later  definitions.  Now,  it  was  just  this  notion 
of  the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament  that  came  in  time 
to  be  attached  to  the  New.  No  central  power  that  we 
know  of  regulated  or  controlled  the  circulation  of  the 
documents  belonging  to  the  early  Church.  But  it  is  nat- 
ural to  suppose  that  Christian  people  would  desire  to  pos- 
sess authentic  memorials  of  the  wonderful  life  of  Him 
whose  name  they  bore,  and  copies  of  the  letters  written 
by  His  apostles;  and  neither  the  cost  of  manuscript 
copies  nor  the  difficulty  of  communication  between  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  Roman  world  was  so  great  as  has  some- 
times been  supposed. 

We  have  some  remains  of  what  were  called  the  Apos- 
tolic Fathers,  Clement  of  Koine,  Polycarp  of  Smyrna, 
and  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  between  the  years  90  and  130, 
by  which  we  learn  that  the  writings  of  the  apostles  had 
not  only  extended  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  their  origin, 
but  were  already  exercising  a  marked  influence  on  the 
teaching.  In  them  we  find  mention  of  certain  Epistles 
of  Paul,  and  also  of  the  evangelic  history  and  of  certain 
words  of  Jesus,  the  two  being  commonly  called  the  Gos- 
pel and  the  Epistle.  In  this  appeal  to  written  records  is 
the  fruitful  germ  of  the  deference  subsequently  paid  to 
the  New  Testament  writers.  It  is  not  contended  that 
these  Apostolic  Fathers  had  a  complete  Canon  in  their 
hands.  That  may  or  may  not  have  been  the  case.  The 
recognition  of  the  Canon  was  doubtless  as  gradual  as  its 
formation  had  been.  All  that  we  are  concerned  to  establish 
is  that  these  Fathers  had  New  Testament  authorities  to 
which  they  referred  as  genuine  and  decisive.  The  Old 
Testament  was  already  in  their  possession,  and  they  had 
long  been  accustomed  to  use  it  in  public  and  in  private; 
but  now  they  had  something  more,  to  wit,  the  Christian 
truth  contained  in  Christ's  life,  whether  conveyed  orally 
or  in  writing,  and  the  instructions  of  the  apostles  as  given 


302  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

either  in  epistles  or  the  traditional  arrangements  they  had 
made  in  the  churches. 

Passing  from  these  fathers  to  their  successors,  the  Apolo- 
gists of  the  second  century  (from  130  to  180),  we  find  ex- 
plicit testimony  to  the  existence  of  distinct  parts  of  the 
sacred  Canon.  Papias  refers'  to  the  Gospels  of  Matthew 
and  Mark,  to  the  first  Epistles  of  John  and  of  Peter,  and 
to  the  Apocalypse  of  John.  He  is  said  indeed  to  have 
been,  although  bishop  of  Hieropolis,  a  weak-minded  and 
garrulous,  old  man,  which  rnay  be  the  fact,  but  does  not 
affect  his  testimony,  for  "  weakness  of  intellect  does  not 
enable  one  to  speak  of  books  as  existing  which  are  not  in 
existence."  The  author  of  the  beautiful  relic  of  antiquity 
known  as  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus,  refers  distinctly  to  the 
Gospels  as,  along  with  the  law  and  the  prophets,  a  regular 
source  of  faith  and  instruction.  He  also  refers,  though 
less  distinctly,  to  the  apostles  in  the  same  way.  From 
Justin  Martyr,  the  first  of  the  apologists,  we  learn  that 
there  were  extant  in  his  day  memoirs  written  by  the 
apostles  and  their  companions,  that  these  were  called 
Gospels  and  were  regarded  as  authoritative,  and  that  it 
was  a  common  custom  in  Christian  congregations  to  read 
these  memoirs  on  Sunday  along  with  the  Old  Testament 
prophets.  Living  as  he  did  only  forty  years  after  the 
death  of  the  last  apostle,  his  testimony  is  particularly 
valuable  as  proving  that  at  least  the  first  two  Gospels  were 
in  his  day  in  general  circulation  and  use.  As  he  is  simply 
making  a  defensive  argument  against  the  calumnies  under 
which  Christians  were  suffering,  he  does  not  quote  the 
Gospels  by  the  titles  in  use  among  Christians,  because 
that  was  not  required ;  but  he  certainly  does  refer  to  these 
productions,  and  his  testimony  as  that  of  a  man  of  liberal 
culture  who  travelled  far  and  wide  to  spread  the  truth, 
must  have  great  weight,  Contemporaneous  with  Justin 
is  a  document  known  as  the  Muratorian  Fragment,  first 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  303 

published  in  1740.  It  was  found  in  the  Ambrosian  Li- 
brary, at  Milan,  in  a  volume  of  Latin  fragments  which 
dates  apparently  from  the  eighth  century.  This  one  was 
copied  from  a  MS.  of  much  higher  antiquity,  the  writer 
of  which  speaks  of  himself  as  a  contemporary  of  Pius, 
bishop  of  Korne  in  the  second  century,  and  it  is  now  ad- 
mitted on  all  hands  that  the  date  is  somewhere  between 
160  and  170  A.D.  It  is  written  in  barbarous  Latin,  and 
is  mutilated  at  both  ends.  But  its  scope  is  clear.  It  gives 
a  list  of  the  sacred  writings  which  were  then  acknowl- 
edged in  the  churches.  It  begins  with  Luke,  but  calling 
him  "  the  third,"  plainly  shows  that  the  earlier  portion, 
which  has  been  torn  off,  contained  Matthew  and  Mark. 
After  giving  account  of  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts,  it  pro- 
ceeds to  enumerate  thirteen  epistles  of  Paul,  nine  of  them 
addressed  to  churches  and  four  to  individuals.  Then  it 
mentions  two  epistles  of  John  and  the  epistle  of  Jude, 
and  also  the  Apocalypse  of  John.  Thus  it  includes  every 
book  of  the  existing  Canon,  save  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, the  epistle  of  James,  the  first  one  of  John  and 
the  first  and  second  of  Peter.  Why  these  are  omitted  it 
is  not  easy  to  say,  for  it  is  certain  that  in  his  notice  -of 
John's  Gospel,  he  quotes  a  passage  taken  from  his  first 
epistle,  yet  he  does  not  mention  it  by  name.  The  incom- 
plete statement  may  be  owing  to  the  mutilation  of  the 
text,  which  seems  to  be  made  up  of  detached  pieces.  But 
whatever  be  the  cause,  the  fact  itself  deducts  but  little 
from  the  value  of  this  first  catalogue  of  the  sacred  books 
of  the  New  Covenant.  Whoever  the  author  was,  he  is 
not  setting  forth  his  own  individual  views,  but  stating 
what  is  the  usage  in  his  ecclesiastical  sphere,  naming  the 
books  which  were  received  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
some  of  those  (Ep.  to  the  Laodiceans  and  another  to  the 
Alexandrians,  etc.)  which  were  rejected.  It  is  true  the 
document  is  in  no  sense  official,  but  is  simply  the  account 


304  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

of  a  witness.  But  this  fact  does  not  derogate  from  its 
value  as  a  trustworthy  representation  of  the  common 
opinion  of  believers  of  its  day. 

There  are  those  who  insist  that  if  there  be  a  Canon  at 
all,  it  shall  be  one  regularly  drawn  up  by  the  apostles, 
and  given  to  the  world  with  their  official  sanction.  But 
we  answer,  that  this  was  not  God's  method  in  the  com- 
position of  the  Old  Testament.  Its  constituent  parts 
were  given  to  the  people  from  time  to  time,  in  each  case 
with  satisfactory  testimonials  of  the  authority  of  the  nar- 
rator or  prophet  or  singer,  to  speak  in  behalf  of  God. 
But  when  these  were  once  sent  forth,  it  was  left  to  the 
Church  in  its  own  discretion  to  gather  them  into  a  roll, 
or  a  volume,  as  the  complete  disclosure  of  God's  will. 
This  was  done,  and  that  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner. 
We  have  the  living  oracles  as  the  Jews  received  and  still 
hold  them,  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  fear  that  anything 
has  been  omitted  that  ought  to  have  been  inserted,  or 
that  the  book  contains  anything  that  has  no  right  to  be 
there.  Why  should  any  different  mode  of  procedure  be 
anticipated  in  the  new  economy  ?  So  far  as  appears,  it 
has  pleased  God  to  pursue  precisely  the  same  course  with 
the  Greek  Scriptures  as  with  the  Hebrew.  The  apostles 
and  their  companions  (Mark  and  Luke,  and  the  author  ot 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews),  were  led,  under  divine  di- 
rection, to  execute  their  various  writings,  which  were  au- 
thenticated satisfactorily  to  their  first  receivers  (as  we 
infer  from  the  words  of  Paul,  "  The  salutation  of  me, 
Paul,  with  my  own  hand  "— 1  Cor.  xvi.  21 ;  "  The  salu- 
tation of  me,  Paul,  with  my  own  hand,  which  is  the  token 
in  every  epistle" — 2  Thess.  iii.  17),  and  then  were  sent 
abroad  among  the  various  bodies  of  believers,  to  make 
their  way  by  force  of  their  own  intrinsic  worth  and  valid- 
ity. It  was  not  at  all  necessary  to  their  authority  or  use- 
fulness that  they  should  be  collected  into  a  volume,  or 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  305 

obtain  the  special  imprimatur  of  some  ecclesiastical  as- 
sembly. Nor  was  such  a  notion  thought  of  until  after 
many  centuries.  In  the  early  period,  churches  and 
church  fathers  were  cited,  not  as  authorities  to  say  what 
should  or  should  not  be  done,  but  as  witnesses  to  declare 
what  had  been  done,  to  bear  testimony  that,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  certain  writings  had  been  received  as  apostolic 
and  inspired,  and  certain  others  had  not  been.  It  no- 
where appears  that  the  New  Testament  writers  had  the 
design  of  conveying  to  their  readers  a  full  statement  of 
the  Faith.  Their  works  are,  so  to  speak,  casual  arid 
fragmentary,  designed  simply  to  meet  an  existing  want, 
as  it  revealed  itself  in  the  circle  of  their  activity.  And 
yet,  as  we  know,  those  writings,  taken  together,  form  a 
unique  and  symmetrical  whole,  from  which  no  part  could 
be  withdrawn  without  impairing  the  unity  and  richness 
of  the  rest.  This,  of  course,  was  not  apparent  at  first. 
Experience,  diversities  of  opinion,  doctrinal  errors,  cor- 
ruption of  life,  turned  the  attention  of  the  churches  more 
and  more  to  the  original  depositories  of  saving  truth  ;  and 
partial  collections  of  apostolic  writings  began  to  be 
formed.  The  Fragment  of  Muratori  shows  how  far 
this  movement  had  proceeded  in  his  day.  But  in  the 
course  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century  the  mat- 
ter took  a  wider  and  more  general  development.  Here 
we  find  no  less  than  five  great  witnesses  to  the  determin- 
ation of  the  Canon.  (1).  First  is  Irenseus,  born  in  Asia  Mi- 
nor, and  trained  there  under  Polycarp,  who  was  a  pupil 
of  the  apostle  John.  He  removed  to  Gaul,  and  became 
Bishop  of  Lyons,  where  he  exerted  a  wide  influence.  He 
quotes  as  Scripture  all  our  present  Canon,  save  James, 
Jude,  3  John,  and  2  Peter.  (2).  Clement  of  Alexandria 
was  a  man  of  varied  training  and  extensive  knowledge, 
and  famous  alike  for  his  ability  and  for  his  position  as 
head  of  the  catechetical  school  of  his  city.  He  quotes 


306  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

as  Scripture  all  our  Canon,  save  Philemon,  James,  2  and 
3  John,  and  2  Peter ;  but  besides  these,  gives  his  sanction 
to  a  number  of  writings  now  deemed  apocryphal.     (3).  In 
the  neighboring  province  of  North  Africa  was  Tertullian, 
an  able  and  eloquent  orator,  notable  for  his  fiery  zeal. 
He  quoted  almost  identically  the  same  books  as  Clement, 
and  with  the  same  respect.     (4).  Contemporaneous  with 
them  was  the  old  Latin  version  of  the  S.S.,  known  as  the 
liala,  which  was  made  in  North  Africa,  but  two  centu- 
ries afterward  being  superseded  by  Jerome's  revision, 
called  the  Yulgate,  only  fragments  of  it  now  remain. 
This  Old  Latin  version  did  not  contain  Hebrews,  James, 
and  2  Peter,  but  otherwise  was  like  the  present  Canon. 
(5).  Besides  this  was  a  still  older  version,  made  in  the  far 
East,  the  Syriae  Peshitto,  which  contained  Elebrews,  but 
omitted  Jude,  2  and  3   John,  2  Peter,  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse.    Now,  here  are  five  witnesses,  covering  the  greater 
part  of  the  known  world,  from  Lyons  in  Gaul,  to  Edessa 
near  the  Euphrates,  and  representing  four  or  five  of  the 
great  divisions  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Church,  and  they  are 
all  in  substantial  agreement  as  to  the  chief  parts  of  the 
Canon.     The  Gospels,  the  Acts,  and  the  Pauline  Epis- 
tles are  accepted  by  them  as  the  work  of  apostolic  men, 
as  inspired  of  God,  and  as  furnishing  the  rule  of  faith. 
Surely,  the  force  of  truth,  some  divine  instinct,  or  the 
overruling  hand  of  Providence,  guided  them  to  this  re- 
markable unanimity.     For  no  force  was  laid  upon  them, 
no  external  authority  controlled  them,  but  they  were  left 
to  choose  their  course  as  seemed  to  them  right.     Yet  liv- 
ing so  far  apart,  and  differing  as  they  did  in  outward 
circumstances    and    inward     characteristics,    they    stilJ 
reached  practically  the  same  result — a  result  which,  so 
far  as  its  positive  features  are  concerned,  must  be  accept- 
ed.    That  is,  the  books  which  they  all  receive  as  divine, 
must  be  accepted  by  us  in  like  manner.     No   valid,  no 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  307 

plausible  reason  can  be  assigned  why  we  should  distrust 
these  concurring  witnesses,  and  no  explanation  of  their 
substantial  agreement  can  be  given,  apart  from  the  fact 
that  they  drew  from  a  common  source,  viz.,  the  first  re- 
ceivers of  the  inspired  books. 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  books  which  these  parties  re- 
jected, we  have  a  full  and  clear  statement  in  the  words  of 
Eusehius,  the  friend  of  Constantine,  and  the  first  of  the 
long  line  of  Church  historians.  He  gives  a  catalogue  of 
the  writings  of  the  New  Testament,  viz.,  the  Gospels,  the 
Acts,  the  (fourteen)  Epistles  of  Paul,  1  John,  1  Peter,  and 
the  Apocalypse.  These,  he  says,  are  the  Acknowledged 
Books,  received  by  all.  Then  he  enumerates  James, 
Jude,  2  Peter,  and  2  and  3  John,  as  Disputed  Books, 
which,  although  well  known  (and  used)  by  most,  were  yet 
felt  to  be  lacking  in  authority.  Then  he  mentions  a  third 
class  (Spurious),  such  as  the  Revelation  of  Peter,  the 
Epistle  of  Barnabas,  etc.,  which  are  pious  and  useful,  but 
not  canonical.  To  these  he  adds  a  fourth  class,  about 
which  there  was  no  dispute  whatever,  but  they  were  to 
be  set  aside  as  worthless  and  impious.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  trace  the  matter  farther.  As  time,  went  on,  the  settle- 
ment of  vexed  questions  on  the  subject  became  more  clear 
and  harmonious.  Less  than  half  a  century  after  Eusebius, 
we  find  the  great  Athanasius  giving  a  catalogue  which  in 
all  respects  is  the  same  as  our  own,  and  after  a  century  all 
differences  of  opinion  died  out,  and  the  whole  Christian 
body  was  of  one  mind  on  the  point.  The  veteran  critic 
and  scholar,  Reuss  of  Strasburg,  recounts  the  list  made 
by  Eusebius,  and  then  says :  "  This  division  is  certainly 
very  far  from  being  scientific ;  as  a  matter  of  theory  and 
dogma  it  is  even  absurd."  It  is  somewhat  hard  to  see 
what  room  there  is  for  science  in  settling  a  question  of 
fact  of  the  nature  of  this  one,  or  how  Eusebius  lies  open 
to  reproach  for  pursuing  the  very  course  followed  by  all 


308  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

the  lights  of  the  Church  from  the  beginning.  Nothing  is 
more  certain  from  all  the  evidence  in  the  case  than  that 
individuals  and  churches  in  accepting  any  writing  as  di- 
vinely inspired,  were  governed  by  their  conviction  as  to 
its  origin.  The  only  question  they  asked  was:  Did  it 
come  from  men  who  were  themselves  apostles,  or  so  as- 
sociated with  apostles  as  to  be  under  their  influence? 
And  the  fact  of  its  reception  by  any  number  of  cl mrches 
was  of  weight  only  as  it  bore  upon  this  point.  In  feet, 
for  a  thousand  years  there  was  no  conciliar  action  in  the 
matter.  The  provincial  council  of  Laodicea  (363  A.D.), 
which  acted  on  the  subject,  only  decreed  that  canonical 
books  alone  should  be  read  in  the  churches,  but  did  not 
determine  what  these  were.  Afterward  at  Carthage,  in 
397,  through  Augustine's  influence,  there  was  a  decree 
which  named  the  books,  and  limited  their  ecclesiastical 
use,  but  this  was  not  repeated  anywhere  else,  much  less 
sanctioned  by  any  act  of  an  oecumenical  body.  The  whole 
question  was  regarded  as  out  of  the  domain  of  conciliar 
action.  The  appeal  was  always  made  to  tradition,  to 
usage,  to  antiquity,  and  not  to  any  decree  of  any  eccle- 
siastical body,  large  or  small. 

As  to  the  Disputed  Books,  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
doubt  or  hesitation  in  their  case  arose  from  the  nature  of 
their  contents,  but  from  circumstances  which  admitted  of 
an  adequate  explanation  and  afterward  received  the 
same.  Thus,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  circulated 
without  the  name  of  its  author,  as  it  still  is,  and  this  fact, 
of  course,  made  men  chary  of  acknowledging  its  apostolical 
authority.  The  second  and  third  Epistles  of  John  were 
very  short,  were  addressed  each  to  an  individual,  and, 
therefore,  might  easily  escape  notice  for  a  considerable 
time.  The  Epistle  of  James  was  addressed  to  the  be- 
lievers of  the  Diaspora,  who  were  widely  scattered,  but 
were  mainly  found  in  the  East,  and  so  it  would  naturally 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  3Q9 

be  a  long  time  in  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Church 
in  the  West.  The  second  Epistle  of  Peter  and  the 
Epistle  of  Jude  were  apparently  directed  to  Jewish  "be- 
lievers, and  were  full  of  Hebrew  memories  and  allusions, 
and  so  might  have  drifted  into  corners  where  they  escaped 
attention.  But  whether  these  explanations  be  sufficient 
or  not,  the  existence  of  the  Antilegomena,  or  Disputed 
Books,  is  not  a  thing  to  be  regretted.  Rather  the  fact 
stands  out  as  an  undeniable  evidence  that  the  formation 
of  the  Canon  was  not  a  hasty  enterprise,  undertaken 
without  deliberation,  and  concluded  without  reason,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  was  conducted  with  all  conceivable  care. 
Not  every  writing  claiming  to  be  from  an  apostle's  hand 
was  welcomed  and  forthwith  admitted,  but  there  was  de- 
lay and  investigation,  and  in  some  cases  two  centuries 
elapsed  before  the  case  was  closed.  But  it  may  be  added, 
that  even  if  the  result  had  been  other  than  it  actually 
was,  and  the  entire  body  of  disputed  books  had  been 
dropped  as  uncanonical,  while  our  loss  would  have  been 
serious  and  greatly  to  be  lamented,  it  would  have  been 
anything  but  fatal.  The  body  of  the  faith  would  have 
remained  the  same  ;  the  creed  would  have  lost  none  of  its 
articles,  and  the  ethics  of  the  New  Covenant  would  still 
have  maintained  their  pure  and  lofty 'standard.  But, 
blessed  be  God,  we  have  not  a  mutilated  Bible.  The 
book  contains  all  that  it  was  intended  to  have.  We  have 
no  reason  to  think  that  any  inspired  book  was  lost.  The 
early  believers  were  faithful  to  their  high  calling,  and 
carefully  preserved  the  precious  deposit  of  living  oracles 
committed  to  their  hands,  and  oftentimes  at  sore  risk  and 
cost.  Eusebius  says  that  when  he  was  young  he  saw,  at 
Cesarea,  under  the  persecution  of  Diocletian,  the  houses 
of  Christians  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures consigned  to  the  flames  in  the  open  market-place. 
The  enemies  of  the  truth  were  as  quick  then  as  in  former 


310  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

days  to  see  tlie  value  of  written  documents  in  conserving 
the  faith,  and  they  made  desperate  efforts  to  destroy  these 
title-deeds  of  the  Christian  hope.  Not  a  few  of  the  early 
disciples  suffered  death  for  refusing  to  deliver  up  their 
sacred  books.  Some,  indeed,  overcome  by  the  terrors  of 
a  fierce  persecution,  did,  in  the  hour  of  temptation,  con- 
sent to  surrender  their  treasures,  but  they  bore  ever  after- 
ward the  odious  name,  traditores  /  and  it  was  with  the 
utmost  difficulty  that  any  of  them  could  be  received  again 
into  the  communion  of  the  Church,  even  after  a  lono1 

"  t3 

repentance  and  the  most  humbling  confession  of  their 
fault.  We  may,  therefore,  well  believe  that  the  effort  of 
Diocletian  failed  as  entirely  as  did  that  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  who,  centuries  before,  sought  to  accomplish  a 
similar  purpose  in  respect  to  the  sacred  volume  of  the 
Jews.  In  neither  case  did  threats  and  tortures  succeed. 
Neither  the  Old  Testament  nor  the  New,  nor  any  portion 
of  them,  was  obliterated.  We  have  all  that  our  gracious 
God  intended  us  to  have — nothing  more,  nothing  less. 

Our  existing  Canon  of  the  New  Testament  is,  then,  a 
complete  whole,  varied  indeed  in  its  parts,  but  all  bound 
together  in  a  harmonious  unity,  and  it  thoroughly  merits 
the  encomium  which  its  chief  penman  pronounced  upon 
the  Old  Testament:  "  Every  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is 
also  profitable  for  teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
instruction  which  is  in  righteousness ;  that  the  man  of 
God  may  be  complete,  furnished  completely  unto  every 
good  work."  This  admirable  excellence  is  perceived 
whenever  the  book  is  faithfully  studied ;  it  is  demon- 
strated by  its  influence  in  all  the  past  upon  individuals, 
families,  and  nations;  it  is  shown  yet  more  convincingly 
by  comparison  with  any  or  all  of  the  apocryphal  writ- 
ings. These  are  many  and  various.  Not  all  of  them  have 
come  down  to  us,  but  enough  have  survived  to  satisfy  us 
that  the  early  Church  did  not  accept  whatever  ottered 


THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE.  3H 

itself  as  apostolic  and  divine,  but  employed  a  wise  and  dis- 
criminating criticism,  and  was  as  distinctly  guided  from 
above  in  what  it  rejected  as  in  what  it  adopted.  There 
is  a  number  of  gospels  intended  to  fill  supposed  gaps  in 
the  works  of  the  four  evangelists,  but  not  one  of  them 
can  for  a  moment  stand  a  comparison  with  the  canonical 
record.  They  are  puerile  in  style  and  substance,  make  no 
addition  to  our  real  knowledge,  and  are  every  way  worth- 
less. The  same  is  true  of  the  Acts  of  Pilate,  the  Letters 
of  Paul  to  Seneca,  the  Letter  of  Abgarus  to  Jesus,  and 
of  all  the  rest.  It  would  seem  as  if  they  were  allowed  to 
be  produced  and  to  survive  in  order  to  furnish  all  coming 
time  a  convenient  test  by  which  to  determine  the  distance 
between  the  genuine  productions  of  an  apostolic  pen  and 
those  that  are  spurious.  A  similar  remark  may  be  made 
concerning  other  productions  written  in  good  faith,  but  of 
simply  human  origin,  which  yet,  in  more  than  one  case, 
were  temporarily  mistaken  for  apostolic,  and  classed  with 
the  legitimate  Scripture.  Such  are  the  Shepherd  of 
Hennas,  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  etc.  These  are  not  silly 
and  superstitious  like  the  apocryphal  books,  but  serious, 
and  having  a  definite  purpose.  Yet  they  are  written  on 
a  low,  human,  earthly  plane,  without  any  definite  grasp  of 
revealed  truth  and  wholly  destitute  of  the  intense  spiritual 
power  of  the  genuine  Word.  Hence  it  is  not  strange  that 
after  being  for  a  time  mixed  up  with  the  genuine  accents 
of  inspiration  their  true  character  became  known,  and 
they  were  quietly  dropped  from  the  position  to  which 
they  had  no  claim,  and  now  serve  no  purpose  save  that  of 
showing  how  great  is  the  difference  between  a  religious 
teacher  who  writes  in  dependence  upon  his  own  resources 
and  one  who  is  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  range  of  antiquity  which 
any  competent  authority  would  wish  to  add  to  the  exist- 
ing Canon,  nothing  which,  if  so  added,  wrould  be  anything 


312  THE  CANON  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

else  than  a  drawback—  something  that  bad  to  be  explained 
and  apologized  for. 

It  may  then  be  said  in  conclusion,  that  the  external  evi- 
dence is  fully  corroborated  by  the  internal,  leaving  us  no 
room  to  doubt  that  the  existing  Canon  of  Scripture  as 
recognized  by  Protestant  Christendom  is  strictly  accurate, 
having  nothing  superfluous  and  nothing  lacking,  but  con- 
taining the  whole  mind  of  the  Spirit  so  far  as  it  has  been 
revealed.  God,  having  been  pleased  to  make  a  revelation 
of  Himself  to  our  race  and  to  inspire  holy  men  to  make 
an  exact  record  of  that  revelation,  has  also  seen  "fit  in  His 
wise  and  holy  Providence  to  guard  the  transmission  of  it 
down  through  the  ages  so  that  it  comes  to  us  in  all  its 
original  integrity,  and  we  believe  and  are  sure  that  we  are 
not  following  cunningly-devised  fables,  but  possess  the  liv- 
ing oracles  of  the  living  God.  The  external  evidence  and 
the  internal  combine  to  justify  this  conclusion  in  which 
the  Church  of  God  has  calmly  rested  for  centuries.  From 
time  to  time  portions  of  the  Canon  have  been  violently  at- 
tacked, and  the  assailants  often  raised  a  shout  of  triumph, 
but  the  triumph  was  short.  After  the  smoke  had  cleared 
away  it  was  seen  that  the  foundations  of  revealed  truth 
had  not  suffered  in  the  least,  but  only  displayed  anew 
their  immovable  solidity. 


PREACH  THE  WORD. 

HOWARD    CROSBY. 

ONE  of  the  latest  injunctions  of  the  aged  Paul,  just  be- 
fore his  martyrdom,  was  that  to  Timothy,  which  consti- 
tutes the  text  of  my  address — "  Preach  the  Word."  Thirty 
years  of  Christian  experience,  fifteen  years  of  apostolic 
survey,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  all  spoke 
in  those  words.  It  was  a  command  from  heaven  itself, 
not  to  Timothy  only,  but  to  all  who  fill  the  office  of  evan- 
gelists or  preachers  in  the  New  Testament  Church.  The 
order,  thus  succinctly  given,  is  a  condensation  of  all  that 
Paul  had  said  to  Timothy  or  to  the  Church  on  the  subject 
of  preaching.  The  sound  or  healthy  doctrine  on  which 
he  lays  so  much  stress,  and  the  avoidance  of  fables  and 
the  world's  wisdom,  are  both  included  in  this  curt  com- 
mand. There  has  been  a  tendency  from  the  very  begin- 
ning to  conform  the  doctrine  of  Christ  to  the  philosophy 
of  man,  to  fuse  the  two  together,  and  to  show  that  all  re- 
ligions have  the  same  divine  element  at  their  roots.  This 
was  seen  in  Gnosticism,  in  the  Alexandrian  school  of 
Clement  and  Origen,  and  in  a  score  of  heresies  that  sprang 
up  within  the  later  Church.  The  distinctive  character  of 
Christianity  has  displeased  the  philosophic  mind,  and  men 
have  sought  to  explain  away  many  of  its  features  from  the 
stand-point  of  the  human  consciousness  and  by  an  appeal 
to  the  teachings  of  nature.  These  efforts  have  certain 
marks  in  common.  They  diminish  the  heinousness  of 
sin,  they  exaggerate  the  powers  of  man,  and  they  suggest 
a  uniformity  of  destiny.  Sin  is  a  defect,  perhaps  a  disease. 
The  defect  can  be  supplied,  the  disease  can  be  cured  by 

(313) 


314  PREACH   THE    WORD. 

human  applications,  the  divine  help  being  valuable  as  en- 
couragement to  the  human  effort.  High  civilization  and 
moral  reform  are  what  man  needs,  and  these  can  be  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  general  principles  common  to  our 
race,  of  which  Christianity  is  only  one  of  the  forms. 

It  is  natural  and  inevitable  that,  with  this  teaching,  the 
written  Word  of  God  should  be  neglected,  if  not  ignored. 
No  one  can  study  that  Word  and  then  use  it  for  so  broad 
and  undiscriminating  a  purpose.  No  one  can  study  that 
Word  and  then,  be  contented  with  a  superficial  polish  of 
society,  and  a  universal  brotherhood  founded  on  such  a 
scheme.  Paul  saw  this  tendency  in  his  own  day,  and  he 
warns  the  Church  earnestly  against  it.  "  Beware  "  is  his 
language — "  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  phi- 
losophy and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after 
the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ "  (Col. 
ii.  8).  The  evil  principle  is  ever  at  work.  Human  nature 
is  ever  the  same.  The  Church  is  always  subject  to  the 
same  efforts  of  human  nature  within  itself  to  remove  the 
foundations  of  grace  and  substitute  the  inventions  of 
pride.  Whether  it  appear  in  the  form  of  hierarchical 
assumption,  or  in  the  character  of  rational  inquiry  and 
scientific  research,  the  evil  principle  hides,  mutilates,  or 
contradicts  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  Scriptures,  as  they 
are,  with  their  divine  claim  and  their  uncompromising 
teachings,  it  cannot  endure,  and  the  appeal  to  Scripture  it 
counts  as  a  mark  of  credulity  and  an  exhibition  of  igno- 
rance. One  of  the  saddest  sights  in  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  the  yielding  to  this  spirit  of  pride  on  the  part  of  the 
ordained  preachers  of  the  Word.  Many  modern  Timothys 
use  the  pulpit  for  discourses  on  art  and  literature,  others 
take  the  opportunity  for  the  display  of  rhetoric  and  ora- 
tory, others  proclaim  an  ethics  of  expediency,  while  still 
others  seek  only  to  tickle  the  ears  of  an  audience  that  desire  to 
be  amused.  In  all  this  you  look  in  vain  for  the  Gospel. 


PREACH   THE    WORD.  315 

Plato  or  Aristotle,  and  in  some  cases  Lucian,  could  have 
said  it  all.  Churches  are  filled  by  appealing  to  carnal  de- 
sires and  sesthetic  tastes.  Brilliant  oratory,  scientific  mu 
sic,  sensational  topics,  and  fashionable  pewholders,  are  the 
baits  to  lure  people  into  the  churches,  and  a  church  is 
called  prosperous  as  these  wretched  devices  succeed.  The 
preacher  delights  to  get  himself  into  the  newspaper,  and 
he  accommodates  his  preaching  to  the  newspaper  level. 
Such  churches  will,  of  course,  have  worldly-minded  offi- 
cers and  a  worldly-minded  membership,  while  godly  souls 
either  flee  from  them,  or  else  mourn  in  secret,  if  they  are 
not  themselves  chilled  by  the  lack  of  Gospel  heat. 

It  is  directly  against  all  this  that  the  holy  apostle  utters 
his  clarion  cry  down  through  the  ages :  "  Preach  the 
Word."  What  is  the  Word  1  It  is  not  man's  philosophy 
nor  man's  rhetoric.  It  is  the  divine  revelation.  It  is 
called  the  Word  of  God,  because  it  is  not  of  man.  As 
God's,  it  has  both  authority  and  power — authority  to  de- 
mand attention,  and  power  to  convert  and  save  the  soul. 
It  is  not  to  be  pounded  in  man's  mortar,  nor  run  into 
man's  mould.  It  is  Dot  to  be  twisted  and  fitted  to  man's 
preconceived  ideas.  It  is  not  to  be  filtered  through  man's 
strainer,  nor  mixed  with  man's  conceits.  It  is  God's,  and 
as  God's,  let  no  man  dare  add  to  it,  or  take  frwn  it,  or 
alter  it  in  any  way.  The  Lord  Jesus  stands  by  His  cross, 
where  He  offered  up  the  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  points  back- 
ward to  the  Old  Testament,  and  forward  to  the  New,  as 
alike  the  Word  of  God.  Of  the  former  He  cries,  "  Search 
the  Scriptures  ";  of  the  latter  He  tells  His  apostles  that 
the  Paraclete  would  come  and  teach  them  all  things,  and 
they  should  bear  witness.  This  Old  and  New  Testament 
is  one  Revelation  of  God — one  Bible — one  unerring  rule 
of  faith.  God  has  not  given  us  a  doubtful  and  deceitful 
light  for  our  path.  He  has  not  given  us  a  bundle  of  truth 
and  fable  tied  up  together.  He  has  not  left  us  to  our 


316  PREACH   THE    WORD. 

weak  and  discordant  reason,  and  thus  made  revelation 
superfluous.  He  has  given  His  people  a  "  sure  word  of 
prophecy  "  as  the  only  reasonable  guide  for  our  weak  rea- 
son and  our  sinful  natures ;  and  on  this  sure  word  is  His 
Church  built.  The  doctrines  of  grace  have  neither  human 
origin  nor  human  support.  They  are  altogether  divine, 
and  are  received  only  by  the  soul  that  becomes  partaker 
of  the  divine  nature.  To  go,  therefore,  to  human  philos- 
ophy or  to  man's  inner  consciousness  for  their  confirma- 
tion or  explanation,  is  to  go  to  the  sentenced  criminal  to 
understand  the  excellences  of  criminal  law.  The  error  of 
errors  is  the  seeking  for  the  truths  of  religion  from  man. 
It  is  but  the  adaptation  of  religion  to  the  carnal  heart.  It 
is  the  essence  of  pride  and  rebellion  against  God.  Thou- 
sands of  tomes  have  been  written  by  men  who  called 
themselves  Christian  scholars  and  Christian  philosophers, 
which  are  but  volumes  of  confusing  metaphysics  and  spe- 
cious rationalizing  from  the  basis  of  natural  experience, 
and  which  have  undermined  faith  in  the  Word  of  God, 
and  utterly  perverted  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Students  of 
Christian  theology  waste  precious  time  in  studying  the 
works  of  these  conceited  thinkers,  whose  names  are  lauded 
as  those  of  giants  in  the  Church,  while  they  are  corrupt- 
ing the  pulpit  and  secularizing  the  pew. 

It  is  a  favorite  charge  of  the  advocates  of  this  looseness, 
that  we  are  worshipping  a  Book.  "  Bibliolatry "  is  the 
formidable  word  that  they  cast  at  us.  But  we  worship  no 
Book.  We  do  worship  God,  who  sent  the  Book,  and  it  is 
no  true  worship  of  God  that  slights  the  Book  which  He 
gives.  If  we  honor  God,  we  shall  honor  the  Word  He 
has  sent,  and  we  shall  be  jealous  for  that  Word,  that  not 
one  jot  or  one  tittle  of  it  be  disturbed  by  the  vagaries  of 
dreamers  or  the  impious  hands  of  boasting  critics.  It  is 
the  Word  of  God,  and,  as  such,  we  shall  not  allow,  for  a 
moment,  the  speculations,  imaginings,  and  guesses  of  men 


PREACH    THE    WORD.  317 

ever  so  learned,  to  weigh  a  feather's  weight  against  it. 
They  have  been  convicted  over  and  over  again  of  grossest 
fallacies  in  their  hot  endeavor  to  detract  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Word,  and  their  criticisms  have  returned 
upon  themselves  to  their  confusion.  This  brief  hour  gives 
me  no  time  to  catalogue  some  of  the  absurdities  which 
have  been  promulgated  by  these  learned  enemies  of  Reve- 
lation. Myth,  romance,  the  fiction  of  poetry,  a  patchwork 
of  traditions,  contradictory  records,  pious  fraud,  these  are 
some  of  the  labels  that  the  strutting  pride  of  man  has  af- 
fixed to  the  books  of  the  Bible,  while  not  one  of  his 
sneers  has  been  sustained  in  the  light  of  honest  criticism. 
No  scientific  truth  has  been  found  opposed,  and  no  his- 
toric truth  misstated,  in  all  the  sacred  writings,  from  Moses 
to  John.  The  most  microscopic  investigations  have  been 
made  by  the  most  eager  and  learned  enemies  of  the  truth, 
in  order  to  find  some  inaccuracy,  but  not  one  has  been 
discovered,  except  those  necessarily  resulting  from  the 
process  of  transcription,  and  those  imaginary  ones  which 
are  perfectly  resolvable  by  ordinary  common  sense.  Ap- 
ply these  tests  to  the  Yedas,  the  Avesta,  or  the  Koran,  and 
the  contrast  is  overwhelming.  These  fairly  bristle  with 
error  and  falsehood,  but  the  Bible  comes  out  from  the 
crucible  without  spot,  as  the  pure  Word  of  God.  Men 
just  as  learned  as  the  inimical  critics,  and  just  as  thorough 
in  their  investigation,  men  known  and  revered  in  the 
world  of  letters,  have  accepted  the  Bible,  the  whole  Bible, 
as  the  men-ant  truth  of  God.  If  the  verdict  of  the  inimi- 
cal critics  can  be  thus  set  aside  in  an  equally  learned  court, 
the  result  shows  that  their  learning  goes  for  nothing  in 
the  matter. 

But  far  above  all  this  testimony  to  the  letter  is  the  wit- 
ness of  millions  who  have  found  the  joy  unutterable  and 
the  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding  in  the  sacred 
volume,  and  who  are  drawn  to  it  as  a  child  is  drawn  to  its 


318  PREACH  THE   WORD. 

father  without  question  regarding  his  worth  and  authority. 
They  never  suppose  (and  the  position  is  a  right  one)  that 
the  fountain  that  refreshes  their  souls  is  defective  or  cor- 
rupt, but  they  value  its  every  drop  as  a  gift  of  the  divine 
grace.  They  go  constantly  to  its  blessed  waters,  and  always 
derive  strength  from  the  draught.  To  such  the  carping 
critics  are  as  unworthy  of  regard  as  those  who  would  argue 
against  the  sunshine.  The  knowledge  of  the  heart  is  a 
profounder  thing  than  the  knowledge  of  the  head,  and,  in 
the  Spirit-led  disciple,  can  correct  and  rebuke  the  errors  of 
the  latter.  Now,  it  is  this  holy  Word,  thus  spotless  and 
thus  powerful  for  righteousness  and  comfort,  that  the 
Christian  preacher  is  to  preach.  The  preacher  is  a  pro- 
claimer,  a  herald,  not  a  college  professor  or  an  originator 
of  theories.  He  has  the  Word  given  him,  and  that  he  is 
to  proclaim.  He  is  not  to  draw  from  the  wells  of  human 
philosophy,  but  from  the  stream  that  flows  directly  from 
the  throne  of  God.  He  is  to  tell  the  people  what  God  has 
said.  He  is  to  hide  himself  behind  his  message,  and  to  re- 
ceive it  equally  with  those  he  addresses.  Not  only  is  he 
not  the  inventor  and  expounder  of  a  philosophy,  but  also 
he  is  not  the  mouthpiece  of  a  church  to  issue  ecclesiastical 
decrees  and  fulminate  ecclesiastical  censures.  This  is  as 
far  from  preaching  the  Word  as  the  other.  As  a  herald 
of  Christ,  while  there  is  nothing  before  him  but  human 
hearts  and  consciences  to  appeal  to,  there  is  nothing  behind 
him  but  the  revealed  Word  of  God  to  utter  and  enforce. 
All  church  commands  laid  upon  him  as  to  his  preaching 
are  as  nothing  except  as  they  are  conformed  to  that  Word. 
He  is  responsible  as  a  herald  to  God  and  not  to  the  church. 
He  is  God's  herald  and  not  the  church's.  The  same  reason 
that  forbids  him  from  making  the  people's  approbation 
the  guide  to  his  preaching  will  forbid  him  from  making 
church  authority  the  guide.  He  will  be  happy  to  please 
both  people  and  authorities,  but  he  cannot  make  that  pleas- 


PREACH   THE    WORD.  319 

ing  a  criterion  or  standard.     His  duty  is  above  all  that. 
His  allegiance  is  higher. 

In  thus  limiting  himself  to  the  preaching  of  God's 
Word,  the  preacher  is  not  circumscribing  his  power,  but 
enlarging  it.  By  the  jealous  use  of  that  Word  alone  he 
will  accomplish  far  more  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and 
the  salvation  of  men  than  by  mixing  human  expedients 
with  the  Word.  Human  expedients  are  very  specious  and 
attractive,  and,  alas !  many  preachers  betake  themselves 
to  them.  They  think  they  will  attract  the  multitude  and 
fill  up  the  pews  and  produce  a  larger  rental ;  and  so  they 
may,  but  these  are  not  the  objects  for  which  the  Lord  sent 
out  His  heralds.  Success  is  not  to  be  reckoned  by  full 
houses  and  popular  applause,  but  by  convicted  and  con- 
verted hearts,  and  by  the  strengthening  of  the  faith  and 
piety  of  God's  people.  A  holier  life,  a  more  pronounced 
separation  from  the  world,  a  stainless  integrity  in  business 
pursuits,  a  Christly  devotion  to  the  interests  of  others,  a 
more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Word — these  are  the  true 
signs  of  success  which  the  preacher  may  justly  seek,  even 
though  he  wear  homespun  and  his  people  meet  in  a  barn. 
These  are  the  glorious  results  which  the  consecrated  soul 
will  pray  for,  and  in  them  he  will  rejoice  with  a  purer, 
holier  joy  than  that  which  comes  from  numbers,  wealth, 
or  popular  admiration.  If  the  preacher  preaches  the  Word 
only,  then  he  will  teach  his  people  to  handle  the  Word — 
to  follow  him  in  his  reading  and  expounding — to  study 
over  the  Scripture  lesson  at  home,  and  to  pray  its  blessed 
truths  into  their  souls.  A  people  will,  in  this  way,  be- 
come mighty  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  he  who  is  mighty  in 
the  Scriptures  is  a  mighty  power  for  Christ  and  salvation, 
and  in  his  own  soul  will  have  a  full  experience  of  the  power 
of  divine  truth,  deriving  it  directly  from  its  source,  and 
proving  how  the  entrance  of  God's  word  giveth  light. 
Still  again,  if  the  preacher  preach  the  Word  only,  he 


320  PREACH  THE   WORD. 

will  himself  be  a  diligent  strident  of  the  Word.  He  will 
bathe  in  God's  revelation  and  be  permeated  by  it,  and  so 
be  proof  against  all  the  shafts  of  ignorance  and  conceit,. 
He  will  become  familiar  with  every  detail  of  the  sacred 
history,  chronology,  ethnology,  geography,  prophecy,  pre- 
cept, and  doctrine,  and  will  take  nothing  at  second  hand. 
He  will  not  go  to  Pope  or  Council,  nor  to  Calvin  or 
Sehleiermacher  to  know  what  to  preach,  but  his  delight 
will  be  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  in  His  law  will  he 
meditate  day  and  night. 

It  is  a  lamentable  fact,  that  in  too  many  of  our  semi- 
naries where  preachers  are  prepared  for  their  work,  the 
Word  of  God  is  not  taught,  but  in  its  stead  the  philo- 
sophic schemes  of  so-called  " fathers"  and  great  divines 
are  given  as  the  basis  of  doctrinal  belief.  It  is  true,  that 
these  schemes  are  brought  to  the  Scripture  for  support, 
and  texts  are  quoted  in  their  defence.  It  is  true  also  that 
some  of  these  schemes  are  consonant  with  Scripture  more 
or  less.  But,  with  these  admissions,  the  mistake  still 
exists,  that  the  Word  of  God  plays  a  secondary  part  in 
the  instruction.  It  is  not  taught ;  that  is,  it  is  not  made 
the  authoritative  text-book.  It  is  even  sometimes  intro- 
duced as  a  subject  for  criticism,  and  men  like  Eeuss  and 
Robertson  Smith  are  brought  in  as  the  critical  guides  or, 
at  least,  helpers.  As  if  a  school  of  the  prophets  was  in- 
tended to  examine  the  credentials  of  God's  Word,  and  not 
to  take  it  humbly  and  gratefully  for  personal  use  and  for 
use  before  the  people.  Some  theological  schools  might, 
without  exaggeration,  be  called  "schools  for  turning  Jbe- 
lievers  into  doubters."  The  excuse,  that  men  who  are 
going  to  be  preachers  should  know  all  that  is  said  against 
the  credibility,  genuineness,  and  authenticity  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, is  a  flimsy  one.  If  that  were  the  object,  these  ob- 
jections would  be  considered  only  by  way  of  parenthesis, 
and  the  overwhelming  evidence  of  the  Scriptures  would 


PREACH  THE    WORD.  321 

, 
be  the  main  current  of  thought ;  but  this  is  not  the  way  it 

is  done.  On  the  contrary,  the  objections  are  magnified, 
and  their  authors  are  commended  to  the  students  for  their 
perusal,  and  the  hint  is  often  thrown  out  that  conservative 
views  of  the  inspiration  of  God's  Word  are  antiquated,  ob- 
solete, and  marks  of  ignorance.  We  have  thus,  in  the  very 
places  where,  most  of  all,  we  should  expect  to  see  the 
profoundest  reverence  for  God's  Word,  and  its  faithful 
study  for  the  understanding  of  the  Divine  will,  the  ma- 
chinery for  undermining  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  inspi- 
ration and  authority,  on  which  all  Christian  truth  rests, 
and  that,  too,  in  the  young  minds  which  are  being  pre- 
pared to  become  Christ's  preachers  to  a  sinful  and  dying 
world.  It  is  a  most  painful  thought,  and  it  becomes  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  to  arise  to  a  sense  of  the  evil,  and 
to  correct  it  before  the  whole  Church  is  poisoned  by  this 
insidious  influence. 

We  wish  our  young  Timothys  to  go  out  to  their  work 
with  the  one  controlling  desire  to  put  God's  Word  before 
the  people  and  to  avoid  questions  and  strifes  of  words 
which  do  not  minister  to  godly  edifying,  knowing  that 
the  power  to  convert  and  edify  is  not  the  wisdom  of  man, 
but  the  power  of  God. 

In  these  clays  when  so  much  is  made  of  science,  let  them 
leave  science  alone.  All  the  knowledge  of  the  material " 
world,  which  science  deals  in,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
soul's  salvation.  That  is  in  a  different  sphere  altogether. 
While  it  is  in  accordance  with  propriety  that  a  preacher 
should  have  a  general  acquaintance  with  life  and  things 
about  him,  which  would  include  the  main  principles  of 
natural  science  (which  is  simply  to  say  that  he  ought  to 
be  an  educated  man),  yet  it  is  not  through  material  science 
that  he  is  to  teach  heavenly  truths,  nor  is  he  to  waste  his 
time  on  protoplasm,  bathybius,  and  natural  selection,  into 
-  which  and  like  subjects  Satan,  would  gladly  draw  him,  that  ha 


322  PREACH  THE   WORD. 

may  not  present  the  subjects  of  sin  and  the  cross  of  Christ. 
If  a  preacher  illustrate  Scripture  doctrine  from  facts  in 
the  natural  world,  it  is  well.  He  follows  the  Master's 
example.  But  if  he  puts  the  natural  world  in  its  scientific 
aspects  forward  as  the  text  of  his  discourse,  he  is  using  a 
Bible  of  a  very  weak  and  uncertain  sort,  and  of  which  he 
knows  very  little,  and  he  is  making  the  Word  of  God 
subordinate  to  his  own  inferences  and  guesses  from  nature. 
Science  and  Religion  are  too  often  spoken  of  as  if  they  oc- 
cupied the  same  plane.  Both  those  who  say  they  are 
antagonistic,  and  those  who  say  they  are  at  one,  equally 
talk  of  the  two  as  on  a  level.  You  might  as  well  talk  of 
bread-baking  and  religion  as  if  they  were  co-ordinates.  Of 
course  there  is  a  connection  between  science  and  religion. 
So  there  is  between  bread-baking  and  religion.  The  sci- 
entific man  ought  to  be  religious.  So  ought  the  bread- 
baker.  Science  can  furnish  examples  of  God's  wonders  in 
nature.  So  can  bread-baking.  But  such  connections  can- 
not put  the  subjects  on  the  same  level.  Science  is  merely 
the  study  of  matter,  an  examination  into  natural  sequences ; 
but  what  has  that  to  do  with  man's  immortal  soul,  and  the 
"Word  of  God  to  that  soul  ?  "Who  dares  to  bring  the  lat- 
ter down  to  the  level  of  the  former  ?  "What  has  the  anal- 
ysis of  any  body  and  its  division  into  carbon,  oxygen,  and 
hydrogen,  to  do  with  my  eternal  relation  to  God  as  a  re- 
sponsible and  sinful  being  ?  Why  mingle  things  so  ut- 
terly diverse?  And  yet  this  babble  about  science  and 
religion  (where  science  is  always  ever  put  first),  is  heard 
ad  nauseam  from  those  who  are  commissioned  to  preach 
the  Word.  Is  this  Paul's  way  ?  Is  this  John's  way  ?  Is 
this  Christ's  way  ?  Then  why  should  it  be  the  way  of  our 
modern  Timothys?  Science,  at  its  utmost  reach,  can 
never  touch  the  sphere  of  the  soul's  pressing  wants.  All 
its  truths  together"  can  make  no  impression  on  a  guilty 
conscience  needing  the  divine  pardon.  Nature  is  as  dumb 


PREACH   THE    WORD.  323 

as  any  of  its  own  stones  in  the  matter  of  the  soul's  salva- 
tion. Then  why  meddle  with  it  in  the  pulpit  ?  Why 
bow  to  it  as  a  teacher  ?  Why  be  guilty  of  the  blasphemy 
of  putting  it  on  a  level  with  the  Word  of  God  ? 

It  is  as  preachers  depart  from  that  Word  that  their 
preaching  becomes  barren  and  fruitless.  The  Divine 
Spirit  will  only  accompany  the  Divine  Word.  His  mighty 
power  will  act  only  in  His  own  way  and  by  His  own  means. 
The  Word  is  supernatural,  and  woe  to  the  preacher  who 
leaves  the  supernatural  for  the  natural ;  who  sets  aside 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit  to  use  in  its  stead  a  blade  of  his 
own  tempering ! 

It  is  a  happy  feature  of  our  day,  as  over  against  the 
evils  of  which  we  have  spoken,  that  God  has  caused  His 
people  to  study  the  Bible  as  never  before,  and  they  are 
gathering  in  Sunday-schools  and  Bible-classes  to  counter- 
act the  mischief  which  so  many  pulpits  are  making.  The 
faithful  study  of  the  Word  will  be  blessed  to  the  over- 
throw of  the  foes  of  the  truth,  and  a  new  generation  will 
arise  strong  in  the  Scriptures  to  purify  the  Church  and 
rid  it  of  its  false  teachers.  God's  truth  needs  no  human 
additions.  It  is  ample  in  itself  to  fit  all  the  needs  of  the 
soul.  One  deeply  versed  in  that  truth  is  armed  against 
all  enemies,  however  formidable,  however  insidious.  Let 
us  do  all  we  can  to  make  the  Bible  the  constant  study  of 
the  Church  of  Christ,  knowing  that  in  this  study  is  the 
safety  of  the  Church  and  the  hope  of  the  world. 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  WORD. 

EVANG.    GEO.    C.    NEEDHAM. 

THE  Holy  Spirit  sustains  varied  relations  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  He  is  independent  of  them  in  personal  sov- 
ereignty, yet  identified  with  them  in  official  ministry. 
The  Spirit  is  known  only  through  His  word,  even  as  a 
man  is  known  by  his  words,  which  are  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  his  thoughts.  "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he."  Yet  not  always  is  the  man  hereby  fully 
known.  Not  so,  however,  with  the  Spirit,  for  through 
the  revelation  of  Himself,  we  have  accurate  knowledge  of 
Him — the  Holy  Spirit.  For  He  wears  no  mask,  adopts 
no  disguise,  is  not  hypocritical,  is  no  trickster,  but  is  trans- 
parent as  the  sea  of  glass  before  the  throne,  clear  as  the 
sunbeam,  in  whom  is  no  darkness  at  all.  Through  the 
mirror  of  His  Word,  He  reflects  His  pure  nature,  His 
manifold  characters,  and  the  purposes  of  His  ministry. 
By  that  Word,  also,  by  the  thunder  of  its  power,  by  the 
sharpness  of  its  blade,  by  the  sweetness  of  its  taste, 
by  the  richness  of  its  mines,  by  the  comfort  of  its 
promises,  and  by  the  nourishment  of  its  doctrines,  do 
we  further  know  the  Spirit  in  the  majesty  of  His  per- 
son, and  in  His  multiform  ministry.  For,  whatever  may 
have  been  His  modes  of  revelation  in  former  ages  to  pa- 
triarchs and  prophets,  and  however  varied  his  operations 
shall  be  in  the  age  to  come,  He  seems  to  have  limited  the 
instrument  of  His  ministry  during  this  church  dispensa- 
tion to  that  Word,  of  which  He  is  both  Author  and  Fin- 
isher. 

(324) 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  325 

There  is,  however,  a  First  Word,  who  is  from  the  be- 
ginning, who  in  the  fullness  of  time  became  incarnate,  and 
there  is  another  Word,  called  "living  Epistles,"  with 
each  of  whom,  also,  the  blessed  Spirit  has  entered  into 
close  and  vital  relations.  There  is,  besides,  a  correspond- 
ence between  such  relations,  and  those  He  sustains  to- 
ward the  written  Word^  which  is,  to  us,  the  source  of  all 
spiritual  knowledge  of  things  past,  present,  and  to  come. 
With  each,  the  Incarnate  Word,  the  living  Epistles  of 
Christ,  and  the  written  Scriptures,  is  the  Holy  Spirit  or- 
ganically connected,  therefore  vitally  related.  It  was  He 
who  prepared  that  Temple  of  our  Lord's  body,  which 
concealed,  yet  revealed,  the  glory  of  the  only-begotten 
Son  of  God.  It  was  He,  who,  in  dove-like  appearance, 
descended  upon  Jesus  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  and 
abode  upon  Him.  Thus  He  came,  as  the  Father's  seal 
of  divine  authentication,  upon  the  Beloved  Son.  Priests 
and  prophets  He  visited,  endowed,  inspired,  but  with 
none  of  them  could  it  be  said  that  He  abode.  And,  so, 
throughout  our  Lord's  earthly  life,  in  preparation  for  His 
unique  mission,  He  was  anointed  of  the  Spirit,  led  of  the 
Spirit,  empowered  by  the  Spirit,  comforted  through  the 
Spirit,  He  offered  Himself  a  sacrifice  for  sin  by  the  same 
Spirit,  yea,  was  finally  raised  from  the  dead  by  Him — • 
who  is  the  quickening  Spirit. 

Again,  observe  the  very  intimate  relations  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  holds  to  the  believer.  For  the  Christian  is 
one  born  of  the  Spirit,  sealed  with  the  Spirit,  led  of  the 
Spirit,  empowered  by  the  Spirit,  quickened  by  the  Spirit, 
first  in  his  inner  life,  and  finally  in  his  resurrection  from 
the  dead. 

Thus,  also,  do  we  perceive  like  relations  between  the 
letter  of  Scripture,  and  the  living  Spirit.  May  we  not 
say  truly  that  it  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  it  has  been  baptized 
with  the  Spirit,  its  genuinenesses  attested  by  this  divine 


326  THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD. 

seal  upon  it?  It  is  anointed  with  the  Spirit,  it  is  made 
quick  and  powerful,  a  living  resurrection  word,  by  the 
same  Spirit.  As  Jesus  was  author  and  finisher  of  His 
own  personal  faith,  so  is  He,  the  Spirit,  author  and  fin- 
isher of  that  "  word  of  faith,"  which  is  our  warrant  of 
faith,  our  ground  of  faith,  our  instructor  in  faith,  our  in- 
centive to  faith,  and  our  rule  of  faith. 

1.  First  proposition  :  THE  HOLY  SPIKIT  is  SOLE  AUTHOR 
OF  HOLY  SCRIPTURE. 

.  1.  Pie  is  the  author  of  revelation  in  its  totality.  The 
Bible  is  not  of  man,  neither  by  men,  even  as  the  stream 
is  not  of  the  river  channel.  Yet  as  channel  and  stream 
are  closely  related,  and  identified  one  with  another,  so  are 
the  human  writers  and  the  writings  in  close  identity. 
But  only  forth  from  the  fountain  mind  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit,  who  is  independent,  sovereign,  original,  and  orig- 
inating, have  these  Scripture  streams  descended  through 
their  human  channels  to  us. 

2.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  author  of  Scripture  in  its 
thoughts  and  words.     We  do  not  indeed  attribute  to  Him 
every   recorded   utterance.      There   are  phrases   in   the 
book  entirely  alien  to  the  Spirit  of  God.     The  words  of 
Satan — words  of  demons — words  of  heathen  poets — words 
of  scribes,  pharisees,  hypocrites — words  of  bad  men,  and 
mistakes  of  good  men,  are  not  divine  words.     It  suited 
the  purpose  of  the  Spirit,  however,  to  have  them  record- 
ed ;    and    He   accordingly  inspired  holy  men   to  write 
them,   "for   reproof,   for   correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  might  be  perfect, 
thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 

The  mission  and  office  of  the  Spirit  was  thus  announced 
by  Jesus :  "  Howbeit  when  He  the  Spirit  of  truth  is  come, 
He  will  guide  you  into  all  truth  :  for  He  shall  not  speak  of 
Himself;  but  whatsoever  He  shall  hear,  that  shall  Jle 
speak :  and  He  will  show  you  things,  to  qome.  "  (John,  xvi. 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  327 

13).  The  Holy  Spirit  must  make  use  of  human  language, 
not  because  of  His  impotence,  but  because  of  our  infirmi- 
ties. "  He  shall  speak."  He  gave  the  writers  words, 
which  words  are.  the  original  Scriptures.  It  has  been 
frequently  stated  that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  for  the  object 
of  His  mysterious  inspiration,  not  the  writers,  but  the 
writings.  The  writers  were  fallible  men ;  the  writings 
infallible  communications.  The  words  employed  by  the 
Spirit  are  human  words,  and  may  form  the  vehicle  of 
ordinary  human  intelligence,  but  when  selected  by  the 
Spirit  to  convey  divine  revelations  they  become  divine 
words.  Therefore,  in  this  relation  are  they  called  the 
words  of  the  Spirit.  u  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not 
in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth." 

As  the  body  of  the  primal  man  was  made  out  of  the 
earth,  into  which  God  breathed  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  became  a  living  soul ;  so  the  Holy  Spirit  has  taken 
the  earthly  words  of  human  language  out  of  which  He 
forms  the  body  of  Scripture,  and  into  which  He  breathes 
the  living  thought,  and  thereby  the  Book  becomes  a 
Book  of  Life.  "  Every  Scripture  is  God-breathed." 

Let  us  consider  the  testimony  of  Jesus  on  this  point. 
In  Mark  xii.  36,  our  Lord's  words  are  recorded,  where  He 
quotes  from  Ps.  ex.  Not  accidentally  does  He  refer  to 
the  author  of  that  Psalm,  when  rebuking  the  secularized 
scribes  of  the  temple,  in  the  words,  "  David  himself  SAID 
BY  THE  HOLY  GHOST."  The  Psalm  is  the  language  of 
David.  David  himself  said  it,  for  David  was  mouth- 
piece, or  penman.  But  it  is  emphatically  the  language 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  who  spake  through  David,  and  whose 
word  was  on  his  tongue  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  2). 

Again,  when  Peter,  in  Acts  i.  16,  refers  to  the  forty- 
first  Psalm,  prophetic  of  Judas  Iscariot,  he  makes  this  ap- 
plication of  it :  "  Men  and  brethren,  this  Scripture  must 


328  THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD. 

needs  have  been  fulfilled,  which  the  Holy  Ghost  BY  THE 
MOUTH  OF  DAVID  SPAKE  before  concerning  Judas,  which 
was  guide  to  them  that  took  Jesus."  Thus  does  Peter  at- 
tribute the  authorship  of  the  words  of  -the  Psalm  to  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God.  Nay,  more,  it  is  His  own  testimony 
to  Himself,  through  Peter,  as  the  original  source  of  sacred 
Scripture. 

So  also  in  Acts  iv.  25,  the  language  is  most  expressive, 
"Who  by  the  mouth  of  Thy  servant  David  HAST  SAID." 
Paul,  likewise  having  been  taught  the  source  of  that 
wonderful  communication  to  Isaiah  recorded  in  chap,  vi., 
declares,  "  WELL  SPAKE  THE  HOLY  GHOST  through  Isaiah 
the  prophet."  Nor  must  we  forget  that  climacteric  state- 
ment of  Peter  who  was  inspired  to  write,  "  No  prophecy 
ever  came  by  the  will  of  man  ;  but  MEN  SPAKE  FBOM  GOD, 
being  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

How  misleading,  therefore,  is  any  theory  of  Inspiration 
which  allows  the  admixture  of  human  mistakes  with  di- 
vine communications;  the  mistakes  of  human  speech 
coupled  to  divine  thought.  And  how  nattering  to  hu- 
man pride  that  intellect,  intuition,  or  consciousness  shall 
determine  which  is  truth  arid  which  is  fable.  No  true 
lover  of  God's  Word  will  permit  the  majesty  of  that  Word 
to  be  thus  degraded,  in  order  that  the  perverted,  distorted, 
and  corrupted  reason  of  man  shall  be  exalted.  Nor  will 
any  Christian  believer  having  due  reverence  toward  the 
Holy  Spirit  entertain  such  rationalistic  and  unscriptural 
doctrine.  The  higher  critics  and  the  lower  critics  would 
not  manifest  their  dislike  of  the  complete  inspiration  of 
the  words  of  Scripture,  were  it  not  for  the  insane  passion 
of  the  natural  man  to  regard  reason  as  the  touchstone 
and  test  of  revelation.  Calmly  and  wisely  has  Professor 
Gaussen  written  of  the  Bible:  ults  first  line  and  its  last, 
with  all  the  instruction  (whether  understood  or  not)  which 
it  contains,  are  by  the  same  Author.  -Whatever  the  sacred 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  329 

penmen  may  have  been — whatever  their  circumstances, 
their  impressions,  their  comprehension  of  what  they  wrote, 
and  the  measure  of  their  individuality  brought  into  opera- 
tion by  this  divine  and  mysterious  power — they  have  all, 
with  a  faithful  and  directed  hand,  written  in  the  same 
volume,  under  the  guidance  of  the  same  Master,  in  whose 
estimation  '  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day,' and  the  result 
is — the  Bible.  Let  us  not  lose  our  time,  then,  in  vain 
questioning,  but  study  the  Book.  It  is  the  word  of  Moses, 
of  Amos,  of  John,  and  of  Paul,  but  it  is  the  thought  of 
God,  and  the  word  of  God.  It  is  therefore  erroneous 
language  to  say,  Certain  passages  of  the  Bible  are  those 
of  man,  and  others  those  of  God.  No  ;  every  verse  there- 
in, without  exception,  is  of  man,  and  they  are  also  all, 
wi shout  exception,  those  of  God."  Even  so.  The  humble, 
devout  believer  recognizes  the  divine  Author  in  every 
verse  and  word  of  Scripture,  and  values  it  as  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  great  volume  of  Revelation,  stamped 
from  Genesis  to  Apocalypse  with  the  impress  of  divine 
life,  and  light,  and  power,  even  as  the  thoughtful  natu- 
ralist sees  in  every  trembling  leaf  the  mark  of  intelli- 
gent design,  and  understands  its  relation  to  the  whole 
forest. 

II.  Second  proposition  :  THE  MINISTRY  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

AND  OF  THE  WoRD  IS  A  CO-ORDINATE  MINISTRY.     He  who  is 

the  author  of  the  word  is  pleased  to  use  it  as  the  instru- 
ment of  His  diversified  operations  in  this  dispensation  of 
the  Spirit. 

1.  The  identity  of  the  Spirit  and  Word  is  recognized  in 
the  names  given  to  each.  As  for  instance :  "  Spirit  of 
God,"  "word  of  God";  "Spirit  of  truth,"  "word  of 
truth  ";  «  Spirit  of  grace,"  «  word  of  His  grace  ";  "  Spirit 
of  life,"  "word  of  life";  "Spirit  of  wisdom,"  "word  of 
wisdom  ";  "  Spirit  of  Christ,"  "  word  of  Christ ";  "  Spirit 
of  power,"  "word  of  power";  "The  good  Spirit,"  "the 


330  THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD. 

good  word  of  God";  "Spirit  of  prophecy,"  " word  of 
prophecy";  "The  Comforter,"  "comfort  one  another 
with  these  words." 

2.  In  the  use  of  emblems  common  to  the  Spirit  and 
Word. 

(1)  Dew.     In  Hosea  xiv.  5,  we  find  the  promise,  "I 
will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel,"  a  favorite  and  appropri- 
ate emblem  of  the  Spirit.     In  Deut.  xxxii.  2,  Jehovah 
declares,  "  My  speech  shall  distil  as  the  dew." 

(2)  Rain.     Ps.  Ixxii.   6 :   "  He  shall  come   down   as 
showers  upon  the  mown  grass,  as  showers  that  water  the 
earth"  (comp.  Isaiah  xliv.  3).     Deut.  xxxii.  2  :  "My  doc- 
trine shall  drop  as  the  rain  ....  as  the  small  rain  upon 
the  tender  grass,  and  as  the  showers  upon  the  earth." 

(3)  Water.     John  vii.  37 :  "  He  that  believeth  on  me, 
out  of  his  belly  (heart  or  inward  parts)  shall  flow  rivers 
of  living  water.     This  spake  He  of  the  Spirit  that  they 
which   believe  in  Him  should  receive."     Eph.   v.   25  : 
"  Christ  loved  the  Church  and  gave  Himself  for  it,  that 
He  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with  the  washing  of 
water  by  the  word." 

(4)  Light.     2  Sam.  xxiii.  4 :  "  He  shall  be  as  the  light 
of  the  morning,  when  the  sun  riseth."     Ps.  cxix.  105 : 
"  Thy  word  ....  is  a  light."     Prov.  vi.  23  :  "  The  law 
is  light." 

(5)  Fire.     When  the  Holy  Spirit  descended  on  the 
day  of   Pentecost,  "there  appeared   unto  them  cloven 
tongues  like  as  of  fire  ....  and  they  were  all  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost"  (Acts  ii.  3,  4).     Jer.  xxiii.  29:  "Is not 
my  word  like  as  fire  ?  saith  the  Lord." 

3.  Proof  of  co-ordinate  ministry  of  the  Spirit  and  the 
Word  by  the  effects  produced. 

(1)  In  regeneration.  "  Not  by  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  have  done,  but  according  to  His  mercy  He 
saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  331 

the  Holy  Gliost"  (Titus  iii.  4-6).  Eegeneration  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  a  foundation  creed  in  all  evangelical 
churches.  It  is  a  primal  Bible  doctrine.  For  "  except  a 
man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  is  also  the  office  of  the 
Word.  '*  Being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but 
of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth  and 
abideth  forever  "  (1  Pet.  i.  23).  The  Holy  Spirit  begets 
the  soul  anew  through  the  word.  The  Spirit  regenerates, 
and  the  word  regenerates  ;  hence  the  necessity  of  preach- 
ing the  word  in  order  to  give  the  Spirit  the  opportunity 
He  seeks  to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation.  While  human 
speculation,  natural  philosophy,  culture,  politics,  or  science, 
form  the  substance  of  so  many  sermons,  we  are  not  sur- 
prised that  regeneration  is  practically  ignored,  and  its 
deep  need  forgotten.  The  Spirit's  injunction  to  the  min- 
istry of  every  age  is,  "  Preach  the  word." 

(2)  In  sanotifieation.     The  Holy  Spirit  enters  the  be- 
lieving heart  as  the  sanctifier  (1  Pet.  i.  2).     But  also  in 
the  Lord's  pmyer  we  note  the  petition,  "  Sanctify  them 
through  Thy  truth,  Thy  word  is  truth  ";  i.  e.,  the  whole 
of  truth  (John  xvii.  17).     There  are  various  aspects  of 
sanctin'cation  which  cannot  now  be  discussed,  such  as 
sanctification  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  sanctification 
by  faith,  etc.     Our  present  work  is  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  Spirit  of  God  sanctifies  the  regenerated 
man,  making  use  of  the  word  of  God  for  his  cleansing 
and  purification.     "  Now  are  ye  clean  through  the  word 
which  I  have  spoken  unto  you  "  (John  xv.  3). 

(3)  The  Holy  Spirit  testifies  of  Jesus.     "  But  when  the 
Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the 
Father,  even  the   Spirit  of  truth  which  proceedeth  from 
the  Father,  He  shall  testify  of  me  "  (John  xv.  26).     But 
it  is  co-ordinate  testimony.     "  Search  the  Scriptures  ;  for 
in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life :  and  they  are  they 


332  THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD. 

which  testify  of  me  "  (John  v.  39).  The  Scriptures  our 
Lord  refers  to,  are  those  of  the  Old  Testament.  Moses 
in  the  Law,  David  in  the  Psalms,  and  all  the  Prophets 
testified  of  Him.  Jesus  Himself  rebukes  every  reviler 
of  Moses.  "And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  pro- 
phets He  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the 
things  concerning  Himself.  ....  And  He  said  unto 
them,  These  are  the  words  which  I  spake  unto  you,  while 
I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must  be  fulfilled 
which  were  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the 
prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms,  concerning  me.  Then 
opened  He  their  understanding,  that  they  might  under- 
stand the  Scriptures." 

(4)  The  Spirit  and  the  Word  work  unitedly  in  the 
edification  of  the  Church.     The  Holy  Spirit  is  builder. 
He  hews  out  the  living  stones  from  the  quarry,  fitting 
them  into  the  spiritual  temple,  which  groweth  up  as  the 
habitation  of  God  (Eph.  ii.  22).   Yet  Paul,  in  his  farewell 
address  to  the  Ephesian  elders,  commended  them  to  the 
word  of  God's  grace,  "  which  is  able  to  build  you  up " 
(Acts  xx.  32).     Through  the  Holy  Spirit's  gracious  min- 
istry of  the  divine  word  is  the  Church,  whether  viewed 
as  a  structure,  or  as  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  truly 
edified. 

(5)  The  work  of  revival  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit. 
"When  the  promised  dew  descends,  revival  begins  (Hosea 
xiv.  5).     E"o  intelligent  Christian  will  designate  the  most 
effective  preacher  a  "  revivalist ";  and  no  man  taught  of 
the  Spirit  will  arrogate  to  himself  this  distinguishing  title. 
Revivals  may  be  simulated,  but  the  work  when  real  is  the 
product  of  the  quickening  Spirit.    The  Word,  however,  has 
also  its  place  in  every  genuine  revival.    In  i^eh.  viii.  1-9, 
we  have  an  example  of  the  reviving  power  of  the  preached 
Word.     The  Levites  read  out  of  the  law  distinctly,  and 
gave  the  sense,  and  caused  the  people  to  understand  the 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  333 

reading.  And  the  word  was  applied  in  power  by  the 
Spirit.  So  also  in  Ezek.  xxxvii.  1-10,  we  discover  the 
co-operation  of  these  two  in  the  revival  of  the  dry  bones, 
who  stood  upon  their  feet  an  exceeding  great  army.  And 
thus,  as  the  prophecy  foretells,  shall  Israel  be  revived  in 
the  next  age  of  millennial  blessedness,  when  the  Spirit  is 
poured  forth  upon  them,  and  they  are  found  hearing  the 
words  of  the  Lord. 

(6)  Guidance.     The  promise  of  Jesus   is,  "He  will 
guide  you  into  all  the  truth."     Thus  does  our  Lord  com- 
fort His  disciples,  in  assuring  them  that  after  His  depart- 
ure, the   Holy  Spirit  would  come  and  be  their  guide. 
Also  in  Prov.  vi.  22,  guidance  is  attributed  to  the  word ; 
u  When  thou  goest,  it  shall  lead  thee."     Here,  then,  is 
provision  for  our  journey ;  an  infallible  guide  flashing  on 
our  pathway  this  unfailing  light.     No  feeble  light  of  na- 
ture nor  flickering  light  of  consciousness  can  illumine  the 
path  from  earth  to  heaven.     Only  the  Holy  Spirit's  clear, 
steady,  noonday  light  of  Scripture  will  prove  sufficient. 

(7)  Co-operation  in  producing  pure  and  spontaneous 
worship.     "  Be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  speaking  to  your- 
elves  in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  and 
making  melody  in  your  hearts  to  the  Lord,  giving  thanks 
always  for  all  things  unto  God  and  the  Father  in  the  name 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  (Eph.  v.  18,  10).     Thus  the 
highest  expression  of  worship  is  the  product  of  the  divine 
Spirit  in  the  soul.     And  herein  does  the  Word  also  ful- 
fill its  mission.     "  Let  the  Word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you 
richly  in  all  wisdom  ;  teaching  and  admonishing  one  an- 
other in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  with 
grace  in  your  hearts  to  the  Lord  "  (Col.  iii.  16).    Such  are 
the  divine  effects  of  the  indwelling  word  when  received 
in  the  Holy  Ghost.   It  is  the  true  basis  of  spiritual  experi- 
ence and  the  strongest  incentive  to  spiritual  worship. 

Thus  have  we  traced  the  unity  of  both.     The  Word  is 


334  THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD. 

the  Spirit's  word  and  the  Spirit's  instrument.  There- 
fore, their  action  is  one  and  the  same  in  regeneration, 
sanctification,  testimony,  edification,  revival,  guidance, 
worship,  and  every  experience  of  that  new  creation  in 
Christ  Jesus — the  true  Christian  believer.  Sadducean 
sceptics  denied  the  supernatural  element  in  the  Scriptures 
and  brought  upon  themselves  the  deserved  rebuke  of  Je- 
sus, aYe  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures  nor  the 
power  of  God."  In  that  declaration  does  our  Lord  affirm 
that  divine,  superhuman,  omnipotent  power  is  linked  with 
the  written  word  of  God. 

Is  it  not  our  privilege,  then,  to  receive  that  word  in  its 
totality  and  in  its  tittles ;  to  bow  with  becoming  rever- 
ence before  its  divine  claims;  to  recognize  that  every 
type,  prophecy,  history,  parable,  doctrine,  is  given  of 
Qod  ;  that  every  word  of  God  is  pure ;  that  it  has  been, 
tried  and  not  found  wanting,  and  that  He  from  whom  it 
came  will  abide  with  it  forever  ? 

III.  Third  proposition :  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  ALONE  CAN 

GIVE    US    A    RIGHT    UNDERSTANDING    OF    THE    WoRD. 

The  natural  man  may  by  the  power  of  unaided  intel- 
lect throw  side-lights  upon  the  human  element  of  Scrip- 
ture. We  are  deeply  indebted  to  the  geologist,  botanist, 
historian,  grammarian,  archaeologist,  to  compilers,  and  to 
critics.  But  to  none  of  them,  as  merely  intellectual  men, 
not  having  the  Spirit  themselves,  do  we  owe  aught  in  the 
matter  of  spiritual  interpretation,  "  For  what  man  know- 
eth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  Spirit  of  man  which  is 
in  him?  Even  so,  the  things  of  God  kuoweth  no  man 
but  the  Spirit  of  God.  [Now  we  have  received  not  the 
spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit  which  is  of  God,  that 
we  might  know  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  of 
God"  (1  Cor.  ii.  11,  12).  There  are,  of  course,  men  of 
intellect,  who,  thank  God,  have  also  the  Spirit  of  God, 
to  whom  the  Church  is  deeply  indebted  for  spiritual 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  335 

interpretation  and  exposition  of  the  Bible.  And  also 
there  are  natural  men  who  reverently  aim  to  exalt 
the  Bible  from  a  merely  human  stand-point,  who  en- 
deavor to  account  for  discrepancies,  and  who  seek  to  ex- 
plain difficulties.  IC  But  the  natural  man  understandeth 
not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolish- 
ness unto  him ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they  are 
spiritually  discerned  "  (1  Cor.  ii.  14). 

And  alas  !  there  are  writers  of  another  school  who  dis- 
parage the  written  testimony  and  deny  the  Holy  Ghost, 
while  they  irreverently  discuss  the  Christ  in  art,  in  po- 
etry, in  story,  and  in  philosophy ;  whose  darkened  un- 
derstanding and  sceptical  tendencies  can  only  lead  their 
disciples  into  the  mazes  of  doubt  and  infidelity.  Some  of 
these  would  fain  boast  that  they  compliment  Jesus  as  the 
Ideal  Man,  while  they  rob  Him  of  His  inherent  glory  as 
"  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  Truly,  "  no  man  can  call 
Jesus  LORD,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  So,  also,  "  if  any 
man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His." 

Let  it,  then,  be  our  glad  homage,  brethien  in  the  Lord, 
to  give  the  Holy  Spirit  that  honor  due  to  Him.  It  is 
His  prerogative  to  enlighten  our  minds,  and  to  illuminate 
the  Word,  that  we  may  behold  wondrous  things  therein. 
"  We  have  an  Unction  from  the  Holy  One,"  that  we 
might  know  divine  things.  He  will  teach  us,  He  will 
prophesy  to  us,  He  will  bring  past  spiritual  knowledge 
to  our  remembrance.  He  will  reveal  Christ  to  our  inner 
life,  when,  through  patient,  diligent  study  of  the  divine 
Book  we  wait  upon  His  ministry,  and  prayerfully  seek 
His  proffered  help. 

IV.  Fourth  proposition  :  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  INVARIA- 
BLY HONORS  THE  DIVINE  WORD. 

The  promises  are  abundant  insuring  its  success.  "  For 
as  the  rain  corneth  down,  and  the  snow  from  heaven,  and 
returneth  not  thither,  but  watereth  the  earth,  and  maketh 


336  THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD. 

it  bring  forth  and  bud,  that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower 
and  bread  to  the  eater  :  so  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth 
forth  out  of  my  mouth  :  it  shall  not  return  unto  me  void, 
but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and  it  shall 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it "  (Isa.  Iv.  10, 11).  We 
read  in  the  book  of  Acts  :  "  While  Peter  spake  these  words, 
the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  all  them  that  heard  the  word." 
What  words?  Simply  Old  Testament  words,  rightly  in- 
terpreted. The  Apostles  preached  the  word.  Their 
sermons  were  Bible-readings.  When  Christ  is  exalted 
according  to  the  Gospel,  and  by  its  announcement,  the 
Holy  Spirit  will  glorify  Him  in  those  that  believe.  He 
presents  to  them  by  the  Gospel  the  things  of  Jesus,  and  thus 
Jesus  becomes  to  the  believing  soul  both  real  and  per- 
sonal. It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  pastors,  evangel- 
ists, missionaries,  and  other  preachers  who  trade  largely 
with  the  Scriptures,  and  who  earnestly  invoke  the  Spirit's 
anointing,  are  the  men  and  women  whom  the  King  de- 
lights to  honor. 

In  conclusion  :  The  knowledge  of  this  relation  between 
the  Spirit  and  the  Scriptures  will  save  us  from  a  twofold 
danger.  1.  First,  from  searching  the  Word  for  purely 
mental  gratification— from  an  intellectual  pursuit  after 
truth.  It  is  possible  to  be  adepts  in  biblical  science,  and 
yet  be  as  dry  in  our  spiritual  life  as  Gideon's  fleece  when 
no  dew  from  heaven  fell  upon  it.  Gathered  truth,  unfelt 
in  the  soul,  unknown  by  spiritual  apprehension,  can  only 
corrupt  like  the  unused  manna.  It  is  possible  to  preach 
biblical  doctrine  and  be  strangers  to  its  vitalizing  power. 
Such  preaching  is  dreary,  is  drudgery,  is  delusive.  The 
heart,  not  the  head,  is  the  home  of  the  Word.  It  seeks 
admittance  there.  Confession  with  the  mouth,  or  out- 
ward testimony,  if  real,  must  be  the  outflow  of  a  believ- 
ing heart  (Rom.  x.  9).  Heart-knowledge  of  the  Word 
must  be  sought  after  by  every  Christian  who  would  know 


THE  SPIRIT  AND    THE    WORD.  337 

more  of  Jesus,  who  seeks  to  know  the  will  of  God,  and 
who  gladly  recognizes  the  prerogative  of  the  Spirit  as  the 
supreme,  qualified,  and  infallible  Bible-teacher. 

2.  Secondly :  bearing  in  mind  the  relations  of  both, 
will  also  guard  us  from  a  dreaded  mysticism,  or  a  dead 
sentimental  ism.  Seeking  revelations,  or  experiences  from 
the  Holy  Spirit,  outside  of,  and  apart  from,  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  leads  to  fanatical  extravagances.  He  needs  a 
keen  and  watchful  eye  who  can  readily  distinguish  the 
operations  of  the  Spirit  from  human  fancies  outside  of  the 
Word.  And  when  the  voice  of  God  in  His  word  is  con- 
sidered too  feeble,  and  a  more  pronounced  voice  is  de- 
manded by  the  listening  soul,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
Satan  can  mimic  to  deceive,  even  as  he  can  adopt  the 
guise  of  a  good  angel  for  a  like  purpose.  The  canon  of 
Scripture  is  closed  and  is  complete.  Within  its  range 
we  may  freely  roam  in  search  of  truth,  our  trembling 
hand  held  in  the  strong  hand  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  our 
guide.  Its  pastures  are  our  feeding-places;  its  still 
waters  will  slake  our  thirst.  .Rapt  visions,  celestial 
dreams,  or  mysterious  inward  impressions,  must  not  be 
heeded  when  antagonistic  to  the  revealed  will  of  God, 
and  the  true  teaching  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Bible.  It  is  an 
evil  work  to  attribute  to  the  Spirit  monitions  and  emo- 
tions for  which  He  is  not  responsible.  He  has  given  ns 
the  Scriptures.  By  these  He  will  teach  us,  and  comfort 
us.  In  our  study  of  the  same,  we  shall  have  His  prom- 
ised aid ;  in  our  Christian  work,  we  shall  have  His  needed 
help.  And  in  distinguishing  His  personality,  as  co-equal 
with  the  Father  and  the  Son,  from  the  instrument  of  His 
official  ministry  in  the  Church,  namely,  His  thoughts  and 
words,  let  us  not  seek  their  divorce.  For  of  the  Spirit 
and  the  Word  it  may  be  truly  said,  "  What  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder." 


THE  OKGANIC  UNITY  OF  THE  BIBLE.* 

AETHCB   T.    PIEKSON,    D.D. 

THE  Armageddon — the  final,  decisive  battle  of  the  ages 
— draws  nigh.  Out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Dragon,  the 
Beast,  and  the  False  Prophet,  issue  the  unclean  spirits  of 
demons,  working  wonders ;  and  the  "kings  of  the  earth 
rather  for  a  last  assault  upon  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

From  every  quarter  come  the  foes  of  Christ  and  His 
Church.  The  kings  of  power,  with  the  riches  of  empires 
at  their  command  ;  the  kings  of  science,  with  their  athe- 
istic philosophy  ;  the  kings  of  oratory,  with  the  poison  of 
asps  under  their  silver  tongues  ;  the  kings  of  letters,  with 
their  golden  pens  dipped  in  blasphemy,  are  marshalling 
their  hosts  unto  the  battle,  while  atheists  and  nihilists, 
the  secretly  hostile  and  the  openly  profane,  unbelievers 
and  disbelievers,  the  polished  sceptic  and  the  politic  lib- 
eralist,  the  foes  of  manly  sobriety  and  the  betrayers  of 
womanly  virtue,  the  dynamite  fiends  and  the  traffickers 
in  souls,  swell  the  ranks  of  Satan's  great  army. 

In  this  crisis,  all  that  is  precious  to  the  believer  is  at 
stake ;  and  because  the  Bible,  as  the  Book  of  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  are  vital  to  our  holy  faith, 
they  are  the  centre  of  assault.  All  controversies  as  to 
other  issues  are  of  minor  importance,  mere  skirmishes 
along  the  line  of  the  outposts.  Strifes  about  forms  of 
church  polity  and  statements  of  church  doctrine,  the  use 


*This  address  was  delivered  entirely  without  manuscript, 
but  is  essentially  reproduced  in  all  important  particulars. — 
EDITOR. 

(338) 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      339 

of  uninspired  hymns  and  elaborate  ritual,  clerical  orders 
and  laymen's  prerogatives — these  are  only  wars  of  words, 
often  bitterest  among  disciples  who,  in  face  of  such  foes, 
should  forget  that  in  which  they  differ,  and  remember 
only  in  what  they  agree.  A  delegate  to  the  Great  Council 
at  Belfast  said :  "I  find  you  engaged  in  animated  contro- 
versy over  the  lawfulness  of  singing  Psalms  :  meanwhile,  in 
France,  our  people  are  asking  whether  there  be  a  God  !  " 

The  enemy  is  seeking  to  undermine  the  Word  of  God, 
to  demolish  the  Gibraltar  of  our  Christianity.  Upon  the 
Inspiration  and  Infallibility  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  rest, 
also,  the  Divinity  and  Redemptive  work  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus. They  stand  or  fall  together. 

The  argument  I  am  to  present  is  that  drawn  from  the 
unity  of  the  Bible.  This  unity  may  be  seen  in  several 
conspicuous  particulars,  upon  some  of  which  it  will  be 
well  to  dilate. 

1.  The  unity  is  structural.  In  the  book  itself  appears, 
on  close  study,  a  certain  archetypal,  architectural  plan. 
The  two  Testaments  are  built  on  the  same  general  scheme. 
Each  is  in  three  parts  :  historic,  didactic,  prophetic,  looking 
to  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future.  The  symmetry  of 
structure  appears  even  in  details,  as  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, where  five  books  of  Moses  are  succeeded  by  twelve 
others,  historical ;  then  by  five  poetic,  five  of  the  major 
and  twelve  of  the  minor  prophets. 

He*e  is  a  collection  of  books ;  in  their  style  and  char- 
acter there  is  great  variety  and  diversity :  some  are  his- 
torical, others  poetical ;  some  contain  laws,  others  lyrics  ; 
some  are  prophetic,  some  symbolic  ;  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment we  have  historical,  poetical,  and  prophetical  divis- 
ions ;  and  in  the  I^ew  Testament  we  have  historic  nar- 
ratives, then  twenty-one  epistles,  then  a  symbolic, 
apocalyptic  poem  in  oriental  imagery.  And  yet  this  is 
no  artificial  arrangement  of  fragments.  We  find  u  the 


340       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

Old  Testament  patent  in  the  New ;  the  New  latent  in 
the  Old." 

In  such  a  book,  then,  it  is  not  likely  that  there  would 
be  unity ;  for  all  the  conditions  were  unfavorable,  all  the 
circumstances  disadvantageous  to  a  harmonious  moral 
testimony  and  teaching.  Here  are  some  sixty  or  more 
separate  documents,  written  by  some  forty  diiferent  per- 
sons, scattered  over  wide  intervals  of  space  and  time, 
strangers  to  each  other;  these  documents  are  written 
in  three  different  languages,  in  different  lands,  among 
different  and  sometimes  hostile  peoples,  with  marked 
diversities  of  literary  style,  and  by  men  of  all  grades  of 
culture  and  mental  capacity,  from  Moses  to  Malachi ;  and 
when  we  look  into  these  productions,  there  is  even  in 
them  great  unlikeness,  both  in  matter  and  manner  of 
statement ;  and  yet  they  all  constitute  one  volume. 

Imagine  another  book,  compiled  by  as  many  authors, 
scattered  over  as  many  centuries!  Herodotus,  in  the 
fifth  century  before  Christ,  contributes  an  historic  frag- 
ment on  the  origin  of  all  things  ;  a  century  later,  Aris- 
totle adds  a  book  on  moral  philosophy ;  two  centuries 
pass,  and  Cicero  adds  a  work  on  law  and  government ; 
still  another  hundred  years,  and  Virgil  furnishes  a  grand 
poem  on  ethics.  In  the  next  century,  Plutarch  supplies 
some  biographical  sketches;  nearly  two  hundred  years 
after,  Origen  adds  essays  on  religious  creeds  and  conduct ; 
a  century  and  a  half  later,  Augustine  writes  a  treatise  on 
theology,  and  Chrysostom  a  book  of  sermons ;  then  seven 
centuries  pass  away,  and  Abelard  completes  the  compila- 
tion by  a  magnificent  series  of  essays  on  rhetoric  and 
scholastic  philosophy.  And,  between  these  extremes, 
which,  like  the  Bible,  span  fifteen  centuries,  all  along 
from  Herodotus  to  Abelard,  are  thirty  other  contributors, 
whose  works  enter  into  the  final  result — men  of  different 
nations,  periods,  habits,  languages,  and  education.  Un- 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      341 

der  the  best  conditions,  how  much  real  unity  could  be  ex- 
pected, even  if  each  successive  contributor  had  read  all 
that  preceded  his  own  fragment  ?  Yet  here  all  are  entirely 
at  agreement.  There  is  diversity  in  unity,  and  unity  in 
diversity.  It  is  "  e  pluribus  unum."  If,  at  first  sight, 
there  be  apparent  divergence,  a  further  search  shows  real 
harmony.  As  in  a  stereoscope,  the  two  pictures  some- 
times appear  as  distinct,  and  will  not  come  together,  but, 
as  we  continue  to  look,  and  as  the  eye  rests  on  some  par- 
ticular point,  one  view  is  seen  ;  so  in  the  Word  of  God. 
The  more  we  study  it,  the  more  do  its  unity  and  har- 
mony appear.  Even  the  Law  and  the  Gospel  are  not  in 
conflict.  They  stand,  like  the  cherubim,  facing  different 
ways,  but  their  faces  are  toward  each  other.  And  the 
four  gospels,  like  the  cherubic  creatures  in  Ezekiel's  vis- 
ion, facing  in  four  different  directions,  move  in  one.  All 
the  criticism  of  more  than  three  thousand  years  has  failed 
to  point  out  one  important  or  irreconcilable  contradiction 
in  the  testimony  and  teachings  of  those  who  are  farthest 
separated — there  is  no  collision,  yet  there  could  be  no 
collusion ! 

How  can  this  be  accounted  for  ?  There  is  no  answer 
which  can  be  given  unless  you  admit  the  supernatural 
element.  If  God  actually  superintended  the  production 
of  this  book,  so  that  all  who  contributed  to  it  were  guided 
by  Him,  then  its  unity  is  the  unity  of  a  divine  plan  and 
its  harmony  the  harmony  of  a  supreme  intelligence  and 
will. 

As  the  baton  rises  and  falls  in  the  hand  of  the  conductor 
of  some  grand  orchestra,  from  volin  and  bass-viol,  cornet 
and  flute,  trombone  and  trumpet,  flageolet  and  clarinet, 
bugle  and  French  horn,  cymbals  and  drum,  there  comes 
one  grand  harmony !  There  is  no  doubt,  though  the  con- 
ductor were  screened  from  view,  that  one  master  mind 
controls  all  the  instrumental  performers.  But  God  makes 


342       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

His  oratorio  to  play  for  more  than  a  thousand  years;  and 
where  one  musician  becomes  silent,  another  takes  up  the 
strain,  and  yet  it  is  all  one  grand  symphony — the  key  is 
never  lost  and  never  changes  except  by  those  exquisite 
modulations  that  show  the  master  composer ;  and  when 
the  last  strain  dies  away  it  is  seen  that  all  these  glorious 
movements  and  melodies  have  been  variations  on  one 
grand  theme !  Did  each  musician  compose  as  he  played, 
or  was  there  one  composer  back  of  all  the  players  I — "  one 
supreme  and  regulating  mind"  in  this  Oratorio  of  the 
Ages?  If  God  was  the  master  musician  planning  the 
whole  and  arranging  the  parts,  appointing  player  to  suc- 
ceed player,  and  making  one  strain  to  modulate  or  melt  into 
another,  then  we  can  understand  how  Moses'  grand  anthem 
of  Creation  glides  into  Isaiah's  oratorio  of  the  Messiah ; 
by  and  by  sinks  into  Jeremiah's  plaintive  wail,  swells 
into  Ezekiel's  awful  chorus,  changes  into  Daniel's  raptur- 
ous lyric ;  and,  after  the  quartette  of  the  evangelists,  closes 
with  John's  full  choir  of  saints  and  angels ! 

The  temple,  first  built  upon  Mt.  Moriah,  was  built  of 
stone,  made  ready  before  it  was  brought  thither ;  there 
was  neither  hammer  nor  ax  nor  any  tool  of  iron  heard  in 
the  house,  while  it  was  in  building.  The  stone  was  cut, 
squared,  polished,  and  fitted  to  its  place  in  the  quarry,  be- 
fore it  was  brought  to  the  temple  platform — the  beams 
and  boards  were  all  wrought  into  the  desired  form  and 
shape  in  the  shops ;  and  when  the  material  for  the  temple 
was  on  the  ground  nothing  was  necessary  but  to  put  it 
together.  What  insured  symmetry  in  the  temple  when 
constructed,  and  harmony  between  the  workmen  in  the 
quarries  and  the  shops,  and  the  builders  on  the  hill  ?  One 
presiding  mind  planned  the  wrhole ;  one  intelligence  built 
that  whole  structure  in  ideal  before  it  was  in  fact.  The 
builders  built  more  wisely  than  they  knew,  putting  to- 
gether the  ideas  of  the  architect  and  not  their  own.  Only 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      343 

so  can  we  account  for  the  structural  unity  of  the  Word  of 
God.  The  structure  was  planned  and  wrought  out  in  the 
mind  of  a  divine  Architect  who,  through  the  ages,  super- 
intended His  own  workmen  and  work.  Moses  laid  its 
foundations,  not  knowing  who  should  build  after  him,  or 
what  form  the  structure  should  assume.  Workman  after 
workman  followed ;  he  might  see  that  there  was  agree- 
ment with  what  went  before,  but  he  could  not  foresee  that 
what  should  come  after  would  be  only  the  sublime  carry- 
ing out  of  the  grand  plan.  And  yet  no  one  disputes  the 
singular  unity  of  the  structure,  though  during  all  those 
sixteen  centuries  through  which  the  building  rose  toward 
completion,  there  was  no  sound  of  ax  or  hammer,  no  chip- 
ping or  hacking  to  make  one  part  tit  its  fellow.  Every- 
thing is  in  agreement  with  everything  else,  because  the 
whole  Bible  was  built  in  the  thought  of  God  before  one 
book  was  laid  in  order.  The  building  rose  steadily  from 
corner-stone  to  cap-stone,  foundations  first,  then  storey 
after  storey,  pillars  on  pedestals,  and  capitals  on  pillars, 
and  arches  on  capitals,  till,  like  a  dome,  flashing  back  the 
splendors  of  the  noonday,  the  Apocalypse  spans  and 
crowns  and  completes  the  whole,  glorious  with  celestial 
visions. 

You  cannot  look  on  that  cathedral  at  Milan,  whose  first 
stone  was  laid  in  1386,  March  15th,  and  which  after  these 
five  centuries  is  yet  incomplete,  without  instinctively 
knowing  that  it  must  have  been  the  product  of  one  mind, 
however  many  workmen  may  have  helped  to  rear  its  mar- 
ble walls  and  pinnacles.  Its  unity  of  design  cannot  be  the 
result  of  accident.  No,  the  workmen  were  nut  the  archi- 
tect. Every  stone  was  shaped  and  polished  to  fit  its  place 
in  the  plan.  And  so  of  the  Bible:  that  cathedral  of  the 
ages !  Whoever  the  workmen  were,  the  architect  was 
God  1 

2.    i  he  unity  is  historic.     The  whole  Bible  is  the  his- 


344       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

tory  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Israel  represents  that  king- 
dom. Aud  two  things  are  noticeable.  All  centres  about 
the  Hebrew  nationality.  With  their  origin  and  progress 
the  main  historical  portion  begins ;  and  with  their  apos- 
tasy and  captivity  it  stops.  The  times  of  the  Gentiles 
filled  the  interval,  and  have  no  proper  history ;  prophecy, 
which  is  history  anticipated,  takes  up  the  broken  thread, 
and  gives  us  the  outline  of  the  future,  when  Israel  shall 
again  take  its  place  among  the  nations. 

3.  The  unity  is  dispensational.     There  are  certain  uni- 
form dispensational  features  which  distinguish  every  new 
period.     Each  dispensation  is  marked  by  seven  features, 
in  the  following  order :  (a).  Increased  light ;  (5).  Decline 
of  spiritual  life;    (<?).  Union  between  disciples  and  the 
world ;    (d).    A  gigantic   civilization  worldly  in    type ; 
(e).  Parallel  development  of  good  and  evil ;  (/").  Apos- 
tasy on  the  part  of  God's  people ;  (g).  Concluding  judg- 
ment.    We  are  now  in  the  seventh  dispensation,  and  the 
same  seven  marks  have  been  upon  all  alike,  showing  one 
controlling  power — Deus  in  Historia. 

4.  The  unity  is  prophetic.     Of  all  prophecy,  there  is 
but  one  centre :  The  kingdom  and  the  king.     1.  Adam, 
the  first  king,  lost  his  sceptre   by  sin.     His  probation 
ended  in  failure  and  disaster,  wreck  and  ruin.     2.  The 
second  Adam,  in  his  probation,  gained  the  victory,  routed 
the  tempter,  and  stood  firm.     The  two  Coinings  of  this 
King  constituted  the  two  focal  centres  of  the  prophetic 
ellipse.     His  first  coming  was  to  make  possible  an  empire 
in  man  and  over  man.     His  second  coming  will  be  to  set 
that  empire  up  in  glory.      All  prophecy  moves  about 
these  two  advents.     It  touches  Israel  only  as  related  to 
the  kingdom  ;  and  the  Gentiles  only  as  related  to  Israel. 
Hence,  in  the  Old   Testament,  Nineveh,  Babylon,  and 
Egypt  loom  up  in  the  prophetic  horizon  as  the  main  foes 
to  the  kingdom,  as  represented  by  the  Hebrews  ;  and  in 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      345 

the  New  Testament^  the  Beast,  Prophet,  and  Dragon  are 
conspicuous  as  the  gigantic  adversaries  of  that  kingdom, 
after  Israel  again  takes  her  place  in  history  and  prophecy. 
There  are  some  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  general 
prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament,  three  hundred  and 
thirty-three  of  which  refer  particularly  to  the  coming 
Messiah,  and  meet  only  in  Him. 

5.  The  unity  is  therefore  also  personal : 

"  In  the  volume  of  the  Book 
It  is  written  of  Me." 

There  is  but  one  Book,  and  within  it  but  one  Person. 
Christ  is  the  centre  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecy,  as 
He  is  of  New  Testament  history.  From  Genesis  iii.  to 
Malachi  iii.,  He  fills  out  the  historic  and  prophetic  profile. 
Not  only  do  the  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  predic- 
tions uniie  in  Him,  but  even  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
find  in  Him  their  only  interpreter.  Nay,  historic  char- 
acters prefigure  Him,  and  historic  events  are  the  pictorial 
illustrations  of  His  vicarious  ministry.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment is  a  lock  of  which  Christ  is  the  key.  The  prophetic 
plant  of  renown  becomes  a  burning  bush,  as  twig  after 
twig  of  prediction  flames  with  fulfilment.  The  crimson 
thread  runs  through  the  whole  Bible.  Beginning  at  any 
point,  you  may  preach  Jesus.  The  profile — at  first  a 
drawing,  without  color,  a  mere  outline — is  filled  in  by 
successive  artists,  until  the  life  tints  glow  on  the  canvas 
of  the  centuries,  and  the  perfect  portrait  of  the  Messiah 
is  revealed. 

6.  The  unity  is  symbolic.     I  mean  that  there  is  a  corre- 
sponding use  of  symbols,  whether  in  form,  color,  or  num- 
bers.     In  form,  we  have  the  square,  the  cube,  and  the 
circle,  throughout,  and  used  as  types  of  the  same  truths. 
In  color,  we  have  the  white  for  purity,  the  lustrous  white 
for  glory,  the  red  for  the  guilt  of  sin  and  the  sacrifice  for 


346       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

sin,  the  blue  for  truth  and  fidelity  to  promise,  the  purple 
for  royalty,  the  pale  or  livid  hue  for  death,  and  the  black 
for  woe  and  disaster.  In  numbers  there  is  plainly  a  nu- 
merical system.  One  seems  to  represent  unity,  two  cor- 
respondence and  confirmation  or  contradiction,  three  is 
the  number  of  godhead,  four  of  the  world  and  man. 
Seven,  which  is  the  sum  of  three  and  four,  stands  for  the 
combination  of  the  divine  and  human ;  twelve,  the  prod- 
ucts of  three  and  four,  for  the  divine  interpenetrating 
the  human ;  ten,  the  sum  of  one,  two,  three,  and  four,  is 
the  number  of  completeness ;  three  and  a  half,  the  broken 
number,  represents  tribulation ;  six,  which  stops  short  of 
seven,  is  unrest ;  eight,  which  is  beyond  the  number  of 
rest,  is  the  number  of  victory.  All  this  implies  one  pre- 
siding mind,  and  it  could  not  be  man's  mind. 

7.  The  unity  is  didactic.  In  the  entire  range  and 
scope  of  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  Bible,  there  is  no  in- 
consistency or  contradiction  or  adulteration.  But  we 
need  to  observe  a  distinction  maintained  throughout  as  to 
natural  religion  and  spiritual  religion.  There  is  a  nat- 
ural religion.  Had  man  remained  loyal  to  God,  the  uni- 
versal fatherhood  of  God  and  the  universal  brotherhood 
of  man  would  have  been  the  two  great  facts  and  laws  of 
humanity ;  the  broad,  adequate  basis  of  the  natural  claim 
of  God  to  filial  obedience,  and  of  man  to  fraternal  love. 
But  man  sinned.  He  fell  from  the  filial  relationship  ;  he 
disowned  God  as  his  Father.  Hence,  the  need  of  a  new 
and  spiritual  relationship  and  religion.  In  Christ,  God's 
fatherhood  is  restored  and  man's  brotherhood  re-estab- 
lished, but  these  are  treated  as  universal  only  to  the  cir- 
cle of  believers.  A  new  obedience  is  now  enforced,  rest- 
ing its  claim,  not  on  creation  and  providence,  but  on  new 
creation  and  grace.  Man  learns  a  supernatural  love  and 
life. 

Upon  this  didactic  unity  we  stop  to  expatiate. 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

In  not  one  respect  are  these  doctrinal  and  ethical  teach- 
ings in  conflict,  from  beginning  to  end ;  we  find  in  them  a 
positive  oneness  of  doctrine  which  amazes  us.  Even 
where  at  first  glance  there  appears  to  be  conflict,  as  be- 
tween Paul  and  James,  we  find,  on  closer  examination, 
that  instead  of  standing  face  to  face,  beating  each  other, 
they  stand  back  to  back,  beating  off  common  foes. 

We  observe,  moreover,  a  progressive  development  of 
revelation.  Bernhard  devoted  the  powers  of  his  master 
mind  to  tracing  the  "  Progress  of  Doctrine  in  the  New 
Testament."  He  shows  that  although  there  could  have 
been  no  such  intent  or  intelligence  in  the  writers'  minds, 
and  although  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  not 
even  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  production,  that  order 
could  not,  in  one  instance,  be  changed  without  impairing 
or  destroying  the  symmetry  of  the  whole  book;  and  that 
there  is  a  regular  progress  in  the  unfolding  of  doctrine 
from  the  Gospel  according  to  Matthew  to  the  Revelation 
of  St.  John. 

A  wider  examination  will  show  the  very  same  progress 
of  doctrine  in  the  whole  Bible.  Most  wonderful  of  all, 
this  moral  and  didactic  unity  could  not  be  fully  under- 
stood till  the  book  was  completed.  The  process  of  prepara- 
tion, like  a  scaffolding  about  a  building,  obscured  its 
beauty ;  even  the  workmen  upon  it  could  not  appreciate 
its  harmony;  but,  when  John  placed  the  cap-stone  in 
position  and  declared  that  nothing  further  should  be 
added,  the  scaffolding  fell  and  a  grand  cathedral  was 
revealed. 

8.  The  unity  is  scientific.  The  Bible  is  not  a  scientific 
book,  but  it  follows  one  consistent  law.  Like  an  engine 
on  its  own  track,  it  thunders  across  the  track  of  science, 
but  is  never  diverted  from  its  own. 

(1).  No  direct  teaching  or  anticipation  of  scientific 
truth  is  here  found.  (2).  No  scientific  fact  is  ever  mis- 


348       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

stated,  though  common,  popular  phraseology  may  be  em- 
ployed. (3).  An  elastic  set  of  terms  is  used,  which  contain, 
in  germ,  all  scientific  truth  as  the  acorn  infolds  the  oak. 

These  statements  deserve  a  little  amplification,  as  this 
has  been  supposed  to  be  the  weak  side  of  the  Bible.  Yet, 
after  a  study  of  the  Word  on  the  one  hand  and  natural 
science  on  the  other,  carried  on  for  thirty  years,  I  believe 
we  may  safely  challenge  any  living  man  to  bring  one  well- 
established  fact  of  science  against  which  the  Bible  really 
and  irreconcilably  militates ! 

God  led  inspired  men  to  use  such  language,  as  that, 
without  revealing  scientific  facts  in  advance,  it  accurately 
accommodates  itself  to  them  when  discovered. 

The  language  is  so  elastic  and  flexible  as  to  contract  it- 
self to  the  narrowness  of  ignorance,  and  yet  expand  itself 
to  the  dimensions  of  knowledge,  like  the  rubber  bandage, 
so  invaluable  in  modern  surgery,  which  stretches  about 
an  inflamed  and  swollen  limb,  yet  shrinks  as  the  swelling 
abates.  If  there  be  terms  or  phrases  which,  without  sug- 
gesting puzzling  enigmas,  shall  yet  contain  within  them- 
selves ample  space  for  all  the  demands  of  growing  human 
knowledge ;  if  the  Bible  may,  from  imperfect  human  lan- 
guage, select  terms  which  may  hold  hidden  truths  till  ages 
to  come  shall  disclose  the  inner  meaning,  that  would  seem 
to  be  the  best  solution  of  this  difficult  problem.  And  now, 
when  we  come  to  compare  the  language  of  the  Bible  with 
modern  science,  we  find  just  this  to  be  the  fact. 

For  example,  we  are  told  that  the  Bible  term  "firma- 
ment "  is  but  an  ancient  blunder  crystallized.  Modern 
science  says :  "  Ye  have  heard  it  hath  been  said  by  them 
of  old  time,  there  is  a  solid  sphere  above  us  which  revolves 
with  its  starry  lamps  ;  but  this  is  an  old  notion  of  igno- 
rance, for  there  is  nothing  but  vast  space  filled  with  ether 
above  us,  and  stars  have  an  apparent  motion  because  the 
earth  turns  on  its  axis." 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      349 

But  this  word  "firmament,"  which  has  been  declared 
"irreconcilable  with  modern  astronomy,"  we  find,  on 
consulting  our  Hebrew  lexicon,  means  simply  an  "  ex- 
panse." If  Moses  had  been  Mitchell,  he  could  not  have 
chosen  a  better  word  to  express  the  appearance,  and  yet 
accommodate  the  reality.  He  actually  anticipated  sci- 
ence. This  is  one  of  the  "  mistakes  of  Moses  "  to  which 
the  modern  blasphemer  does  not  refer  ! 

The  general  correspondence  between  the  Mosaic  ac- 
count of  creation  and  the  most  advanced  discoveries 'of 
science,  proves  that  only  He  who  built  the  world  built 
the  Book. 

As  to  the  order  of  creation,  both  Moses  and  geology 
agree.  Both  teach  that  at  first  there  was  an  abyss,  or 
watery  waste,  whose  dense  vapors  shut  out  light.  Both 
make  life  to  precede  light ;  and  the  life  to  develop  be- 
neath the  abyss.  Both  make  the  atmosphere  to  form  an 
expanse  by  lifting  watery  vapors  into  cloud,  and  so  sepa- 
rating the  fountains  of  waters  above  from  the  fountains 
below.  Both  tell  us  that  continents  next  lifted  them- 
selves from  beneath  the  great  deep,  and  brought  forth 
grass,  herb,  and  tree,  the  three  orders  of  primeval  vege- 
tation. Both  teach  that  the  heavens  became  cleared  of 
cloud,  and  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars,  which  then  ap- 
peared, began  to  serve  to  divide  day  from  night,  and  to 
become  signs  for  seasons  and  years.  Both  then  represent 
the  waters  bringing  forth  moving  and  creeping  creatures, 
and  fowl  flying  in  the  expanse,  followed  next  by  the  race 
of  quadruped  mammals,  and,  last  of  all,  by  man  himself. 

There  is  the  same  agreement  as  to  the  order  of  animal 
creation.  Geology  and  comparative  anatomy  combine  to 
teach  that  the  order  was  from  lower  to  higher  types. 
First,  the  fish,  in  which  the  proportion  of  brain  to  spinal 
cord  is  as  2  to  1 ;  then  reptiles,  in  which  it  is  as  2^-  to  1 ; 
birds,  3  to  1 ;  mammals,  4  to  1 ;  man,  33  to  1.  Now, 


350       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

this  is  exactly  the  order  of  Moses.  "Who  told  him  what 
modern  science  has  discovered,  that  fish  and  reptiles  be- 
long below  birds  ?  As  Mr.  Tullidge  says :  "  With  the 
advance  of  discovery,  the  opposition  supposed  to  exist 
between  Revelation  and  Geology  has  disappeared ;  and 
of  the  eighty  theories  which  the  French  Institute  counted, 
in  1806,  as  hostile  to  the  Bible,  not  one  now  stands." 

Take  an  example  of  this  scientific  accuracy  from  as- 
tronomy. Says  Jeremiah  :  "  The  host  of  heaven  cannot 
be  numbered,  neither  the  sand  of  the  sea  measured."  * 
The  vast  host  of  stars  is  a  matter  of  modern  discovery. 
Hipparchus,  about  a  century  and  a  half  before  Christ, 
gave  the  number  of  stars  as  1,022,  and  Ptolemy,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
could  find  but  1,026.  We  may,  on  a  clear  night,  with 
the  unaided  eye,  see  only  1,160,  or  in  the  whole  celestial 
sphere,  about  3,000.  But  when  the  telescope  began  to 
be  pointed  to  the  heavens,  less  than  three  centuries  ago, 
by  Galileo,  then,  for  the  first  time,  men  began  to  know 
that  the  stars  are  as  countless  as  the  sand  on  the  seashore. 
"When  Lord  Rosse  turned  his  great  mirror  to  the  sky,  lo !  the 
number  of  visible  stars  increased  to  nearly  400,000,000  ! 
They  are  like  shining  dust  scattered  on  the  black  back- 
ground of  the  heavens.  John  Herschel,  at  the  foot  of 
the  dark  continent,  resolves  the  nebulae  into  suns,  and,  as 
with  the  eye  of  a  Titan,  finds  in  the  cloudy  scarf  about 
Orion,  u  a  gorgeous  bed  of  stars,"  and  the  very  Milky 
Way  itself,  which  floats  its  streaming  banner  across 
the  vault  of  heaven,  proves  to  be  simply  a  grand  pro- 
cession of  stars  absolutely  without  number.  And  so,  the 
exclamation  of  the  prophet,  600  years  before  Christ, 
2,200  years  before  Galileo,  "the  host  of  heaven  cannot 
be  numbered,"  proves  to  be  not  a  wild,  poetic  exaggera- 


*  Jer.  xxxiii.  22. 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      351 

tion,  but  literal  truth.  Who  was  Jeremiah's  teacher  in 
astronomy  1 

Let  us  take  an  example  from  natural  philosophy.  Mo- 
ses accords  with  modern  discoveries  as  to  the  nature  of 
light,  in  not  representing  this  mystery  as  being  made,  but 
"  called  forth  " — commanded  to  shine.  If  light  be  only 
"  a  mode  of  motion,"  how  appropriate  such  phraseology  ! 

In  Job,  we  read  of  the  dayspring  that  it  "  takes  hold 
of  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  it  is  turned  as  clay  to  the  seal, 
and  they  stand  as  a  garment."  *  The  ancient  cylindrical 
seals  rolled  over  the  clay,  and  left  an  impress  of  artistic 
beauty.  What  was  without  form,  before,  stood  out  in 
bold  relief,  like  sculpture.  So,  as  the  earth  revolves,  and 
brings  each  portion  of  its  surface  successively  under  the 
sun's  light  and  heat,  what  was  before  dull,  dark,  dead, 
discloses  and  develops  beauty,  and  the  clay  stands  like  a 
garment,  curiously  wrought  in  bold  relief  and  brilliant 
colors.  Considered  either  as  science  or  poetry,  where,  in 
any  other  book  of  antiquity,  can  you  find  anything  equal 
to  that  ?  That  phrase,  "  takes  hold  of  the  ends  of  the 
earth,"  conveys  the  idea  of  a  bending  of  the  rays  of 
light,  like  the  fingers  of  the  hand  when  they  lay  hold; 
and  this  is  spoken  of  the  "  ends  of  the  earth."  When  the 
sunlight  would  touch  the  extremities  of  the  earth,  it  is 
bent  by  the  atmosphere  so  as  to  secure  contact,  and,  but 
for  this,  vast  portions,  out  of  the  direct  line  of  the  sun's 
rays,  would  be  dark,  cold,  and  dead.  Who  taught  Job, 
1,500  years  or  more  before  Christ,  to  use  terms  that 
Longfellow  or  Tennyson  might  covet  to  describe  refrac- 
tion 2 

"  When  the  morning  stars  sang  together "  f  has  been 
always  taken  to  be  a  high  flight  of  poetry.  And  when 
in  the  Psalms  J  we  read :  "  Thou  makest  the  outgoings  of 


*  Job  xxxviii.  13,  14.  t  Job  xxxviii.  7.  I  Ixv.  8. 


352       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

the  morning  and  evening  to  rejoice,"  the  Hebrew  word 
means  to  give  forth  a  tremulous  sound,  or  to  make  vibra- 
tions— to  sing.  In  these  poetic  expressions,  what  scien- 
tific truth  was  wrapped  up !  Light  comes  to  the  eve  in 
undulations  or  vibrations,  as  tones  of  sound  to  the  ear. 
There  is  a  point  at  which  these  vibrations  are  too  rapid 
or  delicate  to  be  detected  by  our  sense  of  hearing ;  then 
a  more  delicate  organ,  the  eye,  must  take  note  of  them ; 
they  appeal  to  the  optic  nerve  instead  of  the  auditory 
nerve,  and  as  light  and  not  sound.  Thus,  light  really 
sings.  "  The  lowest  audible  tone  is  made  by  16.5  vibra- 
tions of  air  per  second  ;  the  highest,  by  38,000  ;  between 
these  extremes  lie  eleven  octaves.  Vibrations  do  not 
cease  at  38,000,  but  our  organs  are  not  fitted  to  hear  be- 
yond those  limitations.  Were  our  ears  delicate  enough, 
we  could  hear  even  up  to  the  almost  infinite  vibrations  of 
light."  And  so  it  is  literally  true  that  "  the  morning 
stars  sang  together."  Here  is  divine  phraseology  that  has 
been  standing  there  for  ages  uninterpreted,  waiting  for 
an  intelligence  that  could  take  it  in.  And  now  we  may 
read  it  just  as  it  stands :  u  Thou  makest  the  outgoings,— 
or  light  radiations, — of  the  morning  and  evening  to  sing," 
i.  e.,  to  give  forth  sound  by  vibration. 

Solomon  has  left  us  a  poetic  description  of  death.* 
How  that  "  silver  cord"  describes  the  spinal  marrow;  the 
"golden  bowl,"  the  basin  which  holds  the  brain;  the 
"  pitcher,"  the  lungs  ;  and  the  "  wheel,"  the  heart ! 

The  circulation  of  the  blood  was  discovered  twenty-six 
hundred  years  afterward  by  Harvey.  Is  it  not  very  re- 
markable that  the  language  Solomon  uses  exactly  suits 
the  fact — a  wheel  pumping  up  through  one  pipe,  to  dis- 
charge through  another? 

9.  Last  of  all,  the  unity  of  the  Bible  is  organic.     And 


*  Eccles.  xii.  6. 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.       353 

this  means  it  is  the  unity  of  organized  being.  Organic 
unity  implies  three  things :  first,  that  all  parts  are  neces- 
sary to  a  complete  whole ;  secondly,  that  all  are  necessary 
to  complement  each  other;  and  thirdly,  that  all  are  per- 
vaded by  one  life-principle. 

Let  us  apply  these  laws  to  the  Word  of  God 

1.  All  the  parts  of  the  Bible  are  necessary  to  its  com- 
pleteness. Organic  unity  is  dependent  on  the  existence 
and  co-operation  of  organs.  An  oratorio  is  not  an  organic 
unit.  Any  part  of  it  may  be  separated  from  the  rest,  or 
displaced  by  a  new  composition. 

The  unity  of  a  building  is  not  organic  :  it  is  a  unity  of 
plan,  of  construction,  of  material ;  but  you  may  take  down 
the  wall  and  put  up  another;  replace  the  windows  by 
memorial  panes,  making  each  a  crystal  monument  of 
some  departed  friend ;  change  all  the  woodwork  in  the 
interior;  and  yet  the  unity  and  completeness  of  the  build- 
ing are  not  affected.  Eut  if  this  body  of  mine  loses  an 
eye,  a  limb,  or  the  smallest  joint  of  the  finger,  it  is  for- 
ever maimed :  its  completeness  is  gone ;  its  unity  vio- 
lated ;  and  nothing  can  ever  supply  the  lack  of  that  lost 
portion  however  insignificant. 

Not  one  of  all  the  books  of  the  Bible  could  be  lost  with- 
out maiming  the  body  of  truth  here  contained.  Every 
book  fills  a  place.  A  single  glance  may  not  discover  its 
use,  or  its  necessity  to  the  plan  of  the  book,  but  it  is  the 
fault  of  our  ignorance. 

Here  is  one  complete  whole,  and  twenty-five  years  of 
study  of  this  one  book  satisfies  me  that  nothing  can  be 
omitted.  Genesis  is  the  book  of  beginnings  ;  Exodus  of 
departure  and  redemption ;  Leviticus  of  sacrifice  and 
service ;  lumbers  is  the  marshalling  of  God's  hosts,  and 
Deuteronomy  is  the  emphasizing  of  obedience  by  which 
only  this  redeemed,  separated,  elect  people  can  have  suc- 
cess and  victory.  And  so  the  doctrine  finds  illustration 


354       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

and  enforcement  all  through  the  Old  Testament,  and 
every  book  has  its  own  witness  to  add,  its  own  purpose 
to  serve. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  Gospels  lay  down  the  broad 
basis  of  facts  of  Redemption ;  the  Acts  apply  those  facts 
historically ;  the  Epistles  unfold  the  germs  of  doctrine 
previously  presented,  and  the  Apocalypse  is  the  outlook 
of  the  great  future. 

For  example,  the  book  of  Esther  has  long  been  criti- 
cised as  not  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  the  Canon, 
and  particularly,  because  u  it  does  not  even  once  contain 
the  name  of  God."  But  that  book  is  the  most  complete 
exhibition  of  the  Providence  of  God.  It  teaches  a  divine 
hand  behind  human  affairs  ;  ultimate  and  certain  awards 
to  the  evil  and  the  good  ;  the  uncertain  and  unsatisfactory 
prosperity  of  the  wicked,  and  the  ultimate  prosperity  that 
comes  to  the  good  even  out  of  adversity;  it  shows  retri- 
bution poetically  exact  in  the  very  forms  of  punishment ; 
unbiased  freedom  of  resolution  and  action  as  consistent 
with  God's  overruling  sovereignty ;  and  all  things  work- 
ing together  to  produce  all  grand  results,  the  most  minute 
matters  furthering  Providential  plans.  The  book  that 
thus  exhibits  God's  Providence  does  not  contain  the  name 
of  God ;  perhaps  because  this  book  is  meant  to  teach  us 
of  the  Hidden  Hand  that,  behind  the  scenes,  unseen, 
moves  and  controls  all  things. 

"  Ruth "  seems  to  be  only  a  love-story,  to  some ;  but 
how  rich  this  book  is  in  foreshadowings  of  Gospel  truth, 
especially  illustrating  the  double  nature  of  the  God- man, 
our  Redeemer. 

Boaz  is  a  type  of  Christ — Lord  of  the  Harvest,  Dispen- 
ser of  Bread,  Giver  of  Rest,  He  is  GOEL — the  Redeemer. 
Two  things  must  unite  in  the  redeemer  of  a  forfeited 
estate :  1.  He  must  be  a  kinsman,  to  have  the  right  to  re- 
deem. 2.  He  must  be  of  a  higher  branch  of  the  family, 


THE* ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      355 

not  involved  in  its  calamities,  to  have  power  to  redeem. 
Boaz,  the  near  kinsman,  buying  back  the  lost  inheritance 
and  marrying  Ruth,  suggests  Jesus,  the  God-man,  our 
near  kinsman,  yet  of  a  higher  family,  the  redeemer  of  our 
lost  estate,  and  bridegroom  of  the  redeemed  Church. 

The  Epistle  to  Philemon  seems  at  first  only  a  letter  to 
a  friend  about^a  runaway  slave.  But  this  letter  is  full  of 
illustrations  of  Grace.  The  sinner  has  run  away  from 
God  and  robbed  Him  besides.  The  law  allows  him  no 
right  of  asylum ;  but  grace  concedes  him  the  privilege  of 
appeal.  Christ,  God's  partner,  intercedes.  He  sends 
him  back  to  the  Father  no  more  a  slave  but  a  son,  and 
says :  "  I  beseech  Thee,  receive  him  ;  if  he  hath  wronged 
Thee  aught,  put  that  to  mine  account." 

The  second  law  of  organic  unity  is  that  all  parts  are 
necessary  to  complement  each  other. 

Cuvier  has  framed  in  scientific  statement  this  law  of 
unity.  Organized  being,  in  every  case,  forms  a  whole — 
a  complete  system — all  the  parts  of  which  mutually  cor- 
respond ;  none  of  these  parts  can  change,  without  the 
others  also  changing ;  and  consequently  each  taken  sepa- 
rately indicates  and  gives  all  the  others.  For  instance, 
the  sharp-pointed  tooth  of  the  lion  requires  a  strong  jaw ; 
these  demand  a  skull  fitted  for  the  attachment  of  power- 
ful muscles,  both  for  moving  the  jaw  and  raising  the 
head ;  a  broad,  well-developed  shoulder-blade  must  ac- 
company such  a  head  ;  and  there  must  be  an  arrangement 
of  bones  of  the  leg  which  admits  of  the  leg-paw  being  ro- 
tated and  turned  upward,  in  order  to  be  used  as  an  in- 
strument to  seize  and  tear  the  prey ;  and  of  course  there 
must  be  strong  claws  arming  the  paw.  Hence  from  one 
tooth,  the  animal  could  be  modelled  though  the  species 
had  perished. 

Thus  the  Four  Gospels  are  necessary  to  each  other  and 
to  the  whole  Bible.  Each  presents  the  subject  from  a 


356       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

different  point  of  view,  and  the  combination  gives  us, 
like  a  series  of  concentric  mirrors,  not  an  outline  picture 
or  a  mere  image,  but  a  divine  Person  reflected,  projected 
before  us,  like  an  object  with  proportions  and  dimensions. 

Matthew  wrote  for  the  Jew,  and  shows  Jesus  as  the 
King  of  the  Jews,  the  Royal  Lawgiver,  the  Lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah.  Mark  wrote  for  the  Roman,  and  shows 
Him  as  the  Power  of  God,  the  Mighty  "Worker,  the  Ox 
for  service  and  sacrifice.  Luke  wrote  for  the  Greek,  and 
shows  Him  as  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  human  Teacher 
and  Friend,  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  John,  writing  to 
supplement  and  complement  the  other  gospels,  shows 
Him  as  Son  of  God,  as  well  as  Son  of  man,  having  and 
giving  eternal  life,  the  Eagle  soaring  to  the  sun,  undaz- 
zled  by  its  splendor. 

These  Four  Gospels  are  the  counterpart  of  the  Four 
Living  Creatures  (Zoaa)  of  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and  the  Apoc- 
alypse. Marvellously  joined,  intertwined  with  coinci- 
dences, yet  separated  by  differences,  they  face  different 
ways,  yet  move  in  one  direction,  as  one  Spirit  guides ;  wing 
with  wing,  wheel  within  wheel,  full  of  eyes,  the  scope  of 
their  wings  dreadful,  and  their  speed  like  that  of  light- 
ning. 

These  are  not  Gospels  of  Matthew,  etc.,  but  one  Gos- 
pel of  Christ,  according  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John.  The  first  three  present  the  person  and  work  of 
Christ  from  the  outward,  earthly  side ;  the  last,  from  the 
inward  and  heavenly.  In  the  beginning  of  each  gospel 
we  find  emphasized,  in  Matthew,  Christ's  genealogy,  in 
Mark  His  majesty,  in  Luke  His  humanity,  in  John  His 
divinity.  So,  in  the  close  of  each:  in  Matthew  His  res- 
urrection, in  Mark  His  ascension,  in  Luke  His  parting 
benediction  and  promise  of  enduernent,  and  in  John  tho 
added  hint  of  His  second  Coming. 

The  Epistles  are  likewise  all  necessary  to  complete  tho 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      357 

whole  and  complement  each,  other.  They  form  the 
"  church-section  "  of  the  New  Testament.  The  Church, 
now  founded  both  among  Jews  and  Gentiles,  needs  the 
germs  of  doctrine,  found  in  the  Gospels,  amplified  and 
applied,  for  fuller  instruction  of  believers,  solution  of 
practical  problems,  and  exposure  of  errors.  This  is  done 
in  the  twenty-one  Epistles. 

There  are  five  writers,  each  having  his  own  sphere  of 
truth.  Paul's  great  theme  is  FAITH,  and  its  relations 
to  justification,  sanctification,  service,  joy,  and  glory. 
James  treats  of  WOKKS,  their  relation  to  faith,  as  its 
justification  before  man.  He  is  the  counterpart  and  com- 
plement of  Paul.  Peter  deals  with  HOPE,  as  the  in- 
spiration of  God's  pilgrim  people  in  the  temptations  and 
trials  of  the  wilderness.  John's  theme  is  LOVE,  and  its 
relation  to  the  light  and  life  of  God  as  manifested  in  the 
believer.  In  his  gospel,  he  exhibits  eternal  life  in  Christ ; 
in  his  epistles,  eternal  life  as  seen  in  the  believer.  Jude 
sounds  the  trumpet  of  warning  against  apostasy,  which 
implies  the  wreck  of  faith,  the  delusion  of  false  hope,  love 
grown  cold,  and  the  utter  decay  of  good  works.  What 
one  of  all  these  writers  could  we  drop  from  the  New 
Testament  ? 

The  unity  of  the  Bible  is  the  unity  of  one  organic 
whole.  The  Decalogue  demands  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  Isaiah's  prophecy  makes  necessary  the  narrative 
of  the  Evangelists.  Daniel  fits  into  the  Revelation  as 
bone  fits  socket,  or  as  those  strange  bones  in  the  vertebral 
column  mutually  form  the  axis  at  the  neck.  Leviticus 
explains,  and  is  explained  by,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
The  Psalms  express  the  highest  morality  and  spirituality 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  anticipate  the  -clearer  beauty 
of  the  New ;  they  link  the  Mosaic  code  with  the  divine 
ethics  of  the  gospels  and  the  epistles.  The  Passover  fore- 
shadows the  Lord's  supper,  and  the  Lord's  supper  inter- 


358       THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

prets  and  fulfils  the  Passover.  Even  the  little  book  of 
Jonah  makes  more  complete  the  sublime  gospel  according 
to  John;  and  Ruth  and  Esther  prophetically  hint  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Nay,  look  more  closely,  and  after 
following  the  course  of  history  and  prophecy,  gospels  and 
epistles,  when  you  come  to  the  last  chapters  of  Revela- 
tion, you  find  yourself  mysteriously  touching  the  first 
chapters  of  Genesis ;  and  lo !  as  you  survey  the  whole 
track  of  your  thought,  you  find  you  have  been  following 
the  perimeter  of  a  golden  ring ;  the  extremities  actually 
bend  around,  touch,  and  so  blend,  that  no  point  of  con- 
tact is  detected.  You  read  in  the  first  of  Genesis  of  the 
first  Creation  ;  in  the  last  of  the  Revelation,  of  the  new 
Creation — the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth ;  there,  ot 
the  river  that  watered  the  garden  •  here,  of  the  pure  river 
of  the  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal ;  there,  of  the  Tree  ot 
Life  in  the  first  Eden ;  here,  of  the  Tree  of  Life  which  is 
in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise  of  God ;  there,  of  the  God 
who  came  down  to  walk  with  and  talk  with  man ;  here, 
we  read  that  the  Tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men  ;  there, 
we  read  of  the  curse  that  came  by  sin,  of  the  serpent 
whose  trail  is  over  all  human  joys ;  here,  we  read  :  "And 
there  shall  be  no  more  curse ;  nothing  shall  enter  that 
defileth  or  maketh  a  lie !  " 

The  third  and  last  law  of  organic  unity  is,  that  one 
life-principle  must  pervade  the  whole.  The  Life  of  God 
is  in  His  Word.  That  Word  is  "quick" — living;  it 
"  liveth  and  abideth  forever."  Is  it  a  mirror  ?  yes,  but 
such  a  mirror  as  the  living  eye  ;  is  it  a  seed?  yes,  but  a 
seed  hiding  the  vitality  of  God  ;  is  it  a  sword  ?  yes,  but 
a  sword  that  omnisciently  discerns  and  omnipotently 
pierces  the  hurnan  heart.  Hold  it  reverently ;  for  you 
have  a  living  book  in  your  hand.  Speak  to  it,  and  it 
will  answer  you.  Bend  down  and  listen  ;  you  shall  hear 
in  it  the  heart-throbs  of  God. 


THE  ORGANIC   UNITY  OF   THE  BIBLE.      359 

This  Book,  thus  one,  structurally,  historically  and  pro- 
phetically, symbolically  and  scientifically,  dispensation- 
ally  and  didactically,  personally  and  organically,  we  are 
to  hold  forth  as  the  Word  of  Life  and  the  Light  of  God, 
in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation.  We 
shall  meet  opposition.  Like  the  birds  that  beat  them- 
selves into  insensibility  against  the  light  in  the  Statue  of 
Liberty  in  New  York  Harbor,  the  creatures  of  darkness 
will  assault  this  Word,  and  vainly  seek  to  put  out  its 
eternal  light.  But  they  shall  only  fall  stunned  and  de- 
feated at  its  base,  while  it  still  rises  from  its  rock  pedes- 
tal, immovable  and  serene ! 


RETURN      CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TOM*       202  Main  Library 


E  LOAN  PERIOD  1 
\       HOME  USE 

2 

3 

»  4 
\ 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  AAAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
1 -month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling  642-3405 
6-month  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books  to  Circulation  Desk 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  due  date  : 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


I  MAY     6  1978 

1 

5  vW  &  /*'  '^ 

( 

J    J^£  /f7b 

^ 

»         JE^  Ok      JUN  1  ?  *7 

I 

1 
l| 

j    APR  26  1982 

h 
. 
! 

£ 

S        DCT'n         rm-r    n    r\ 

' 
| 

OCT  3  0  198] 
y 

r 

f* 
y  , 

L 

, 

Irt 

5 

*»• 
V 

f 

'   FORM  NO  DD6    40m  10  '77      UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

ti                                                                                                                               ®' 

^T"~^\7"     vl  i.^\  \i7  V*"*'!  T1      >  '  'V_»^k   v*  .  '  Ml'.  ^JfcUE?  f  ^  A.  ,  <JU«%  •  Tt  —  V     JMP,  r      \+STLmfS   ,    fl    J  ^Ui  ^n^lP^C  '  A"    JIJI 

Ss 


^Pisr 

«£3i§^i 


3w 


m 


VC  29775 


6369 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


m 


•>; 
[w4^ 

>  «:^a\  •• 


-,  <«k 


\5^71>(^ 


•'fcl." 


